EDITOR’S PICK:
EKO HOT BLOG reports that former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday faulted those calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended Electoral Act, stressing that the people behind such call are ignorant of due process in the office of the President.
His remark is coming at a time Buhari is being pressured to give assent to National Assembly’s amendment of Section 84 (8) which avails party delegates the opportunity to vote at the indirect primaries and national convention of political parties.
If Buhari declines assent, then statutory delegates, such as elected political office holders, political appointees, and executive officers of political parties will not be eligible to vote at primaries to nominate candidates for the 2023 general election.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja at a book launch titled “Political Party Governance” authored by a former Minister of State for Power, Dr. Mohammed Wakil, Jonathan expressed disappointment in the National Assembly for making laws that appear to target individuals, rather than work for the good of the country.
While condemning the ongoing primaries for the 2023 elections, he stated that political parties must be allowed to adopt their own process of selecting and electing their candidates.
Only the two major parties – All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party – are currently in the news for conducted primaries for the 2023 elections. There have been reports of how aspirants are inducing delegates with money to vote for them. It was even reported of how the son of Jonathan’s former deputy, Namadi Sambo, demanded a refund from delegates who collected his money but failed to vote for him.
Jonathan maintained that it was disgraceful for politicians to induce delegates to get their votes and then request for refund after failing to secure tickets.
His words, “These whole primaries going on across the country is a mess. This is not a standard practice. The process has failed.
“We cannot use the process to elect president, governors, senators and House of Representatives members and others.
“The process is already failed, which is not good for the country. But we will manage and move on.
“We pray that good people should come. I hope that what happened this year, 2022 will not happen again in this country.”
Jonathan, therefore, urged the National Assembly to make laws to criminalize inducement of delegates and electorate. He also asked the legislature to expunge from the Electoral Act, the sections that state how political parties should select candidates for elections.
According to him: “The National Assembly can’t make laws and lock all political parties together. Parties have different ways of nominating candidates and the process is enshrined in their constitutions.
“Creating a situation where all parties must have the same way of selecting candidates is nonsense. Parties are not parastatals of government.
FURTHER READING:
“The National Assembly can’t make laws to strangulate political parties. Section 84 should be expunged from the Electoral Act,” Jonathan said.
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