Politics

Electoral Act: Don’t override Buhari, Jega warns N/Assembly

Published

3 years ago

January 17, 2022

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega

The National Assembly should not override the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the stalemate on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, a former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has cautioned.

According to him, since 2010, the country have not had any substantive improvement on electoral laws, while in the 2021 Electoral Bill, there were a lot of substantive things.

Jega said this on Sunday night Abuja during a Citizens’ Town Hall meeting on Electoral Bill 2021 organised by Yiaga Africa and development partners.

At the event, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State highlighted the position of governors saying they were not against direct primaries.

Jega said, “With the way the provisions of the bill stand, the National Assembly should do the needful, rather than contemplating overriding the President by removing the contentious provisions.”

He said that the Electoral Act Amendment Bill contained quite a lot of good things that could enhance electoral integrity.

According to him, what was key was to give INEC the law to improve ahead of the 2023 general election and also the off-season elections before the 2023 polls.

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He said, “The challenge is what the National Assembly introduced in the Electoral Bill which is without serious contemplation. It is very important that we have a lot of legal framework.

“I think clearly that the electoral process would have better integrity if we do direct primaries appropriately.

“Any governor that manipulates direct primaries can also manipulate the primaries indirectly.”

He also said that INEC made 31 recommendations to the amendment of the 2010 Electoral Act to conduct credible elections, but the National Assembly only approved 25 of the recommendations.

On his part, Sule said the 36 state governors “are not afraid of direct primaries as being alleged by some Nigerians.”

He said what they opposed was limiting the choices of the people.

“In the APC constitution, we have three options: consensus, direct primaries and indirect primaries.

“The option should be left open and it will not be a surprise that some parties may even adopt direct primaries,” Sule said.

He said that governors were happy with the contributions made into the bill and from what he had heard, everyone was saying the same thing, thus the issue of the direct primaries should be removed.

Sule said, “I am not the closest (person) to the President but working with the President all this while, I can say that President Buhari would sign the bill into law once the right things are done.”

Also, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olumide Apata, said, “I am so disappointed with the way things have turned up. Everything about the Electoral Bill spelt progress but we can’t get it right if steps are not taken.

“Everything about the bill spells progress for the country. The bill should have been passed long ago. The President and the National Assembly being of the same party should have ironed this out to avoid this logjam.”

The NBA president also said that the booby trap set may catch up with the nation and send the country back to square zero.

He, therefore, urged the National Assembly to take out the provision of direct primaries and transmit immediately to the President for assent, who should be given the benefit of the doubt.

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The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, said the timely passage of the bill would be in the interest of deepening democracy and national development.

Itodo said the non-passage of the bill into law had robbed Nigerians the opportunity of implementing important innovations for the forthcoming FCT council election and the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states.

On her part, Samuela Isopi, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, said getting the electoral laws right was in the interest of democratic development.

“What is good for Nigeria is good for the world”, she said.

On his part, the Executive Director, The Albino Foundation, Jake Ekpelle, said he had never voted till he was 58 years and now that he is 61, meaning that he had been disenfranchised for 58 years because the electoral law put it as INEC may not have taken care of PWDs’ interest.

He said, “Now that the new bill put “is” as ‘shall’, it means that INEC is being mandated to ensure that the PWDs are mainstreamed into the nation’s electoral system.

“I hope to see a time the PWDs would be elected deputy governors, governors, vice president and one day be elected the president of Nigeria,” he said.

Also, the National Chairman, Inter Party Advisory Council, Yabagi Sani, said the National Assembly didn’t carry political parties and other stakeholders along.

He said despite the advancement of democracy in the United States, it still operated delegate system and not direct primaries, hence the lawmakers should remove the contentious clauses.

On her part, a former presidential candidate, KOWA Party, Prof. Remi Sonaiya, said, “We should look beyond the letter and look at the spirit of the conduct of elections itself. I would like to join the cause to remove direct primaries clause, if that is the problem so the bill can be passed.”

The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, said that time was running out and that the National Assembly must remove the controversial bits of the electoral bill, and get everything ready ahead of the 2023 elections.

He wondered why Nigeria was not keying into the ECOWAS and African Union resolutions that electoral law should be ready one year before elections.

Also, the Chairman of the Partners for Electoral Reform, Ezenwa Nwagwu, said, “There are some elite conspiracy around not giving Nigerians a law that can strengthen electoral integrity.

“The way it was done in the past was to delay the passage till when it was too late and Nigerians would be forced to say, after all we have something on the ground and the old law that didn’t help the nation’s democracy would be used”, Nwagwu said.

A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dachung Bagus, said that consultants contracted for the job were responsible for some of the drafting errors in the bill.

“We apologise for the drafting errors and cross-referencing gaps sighted in the Electoral Bill 2021,” he said.

Also, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, wondered why the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who claimed to be a victim of electoral fraud before his eventual emergence as President, was now finding it difficult to ensure leaving a legacy of electoral development.

Punch

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Politics

Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

Published

22 hours ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

IIiya Umar Damagum

Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

Few days after governors on the platform of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP) handed down an ultimatum for things to change in the party, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagun has moved against the FCT Minister and his loyal lawmakers, the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Damagun in a letter addressed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dated 13th November 2024 and released on Sunday by the spokesperson of the Opposition Lawmakers Coalition, Ikenga Ugochinyere urged the electoral umpire to conduct a bye-election to fill up the 27 seats, they vacated to join the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Wike has been accused of being behind the crisis in the PDP over his disagreement with the Rivers State governor, Sim Fubara, his successor.

The crisis which started over control of resources divided the party in the state with 27 lawmakers in the state assembly siding Wike and defected to the APC following Wike’s acceptance to serve in the government of the APC.

He has also been accused of working in cahoots with Damagun to damage the PDP by not organising the National Executive Committee which would lead to the acting Chairman’s ouster.

After a series of agitation, the latest being from the PDP Governors’ Forum over the weekend, Damagun has demanded that INEC conduct elections as soon as possible, apparently moving against the FCT minister.

He argued in letter titled, ‘DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE CONDUCT OF FRESH ELECTION IN 27 STATE CONSTITUENCIES OF RIVERS STATE WHICH HAVE BECOME VACANT PURSUANT TO SECTION 109(1)(g) OF THE CONSTITUTION’ that it’s “unlawful” for the 27 members to defect.

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The members defected to the APC on December 11, 2023.

Damagun said, going by provisions of the Constitution, the lawmakers are no longer members of the Assembly.

The PDP acting chairman therefore urged the Commission to perform its constitutional duties and begin the process of conducting fresh elections to fill the vacancies created in the 27 state constituencies by the unlawful act of the former Assembly members.

Parts of the letter read, “The Leadership of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wishes to draw the attention of the Commission to the gross violation of Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) by 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly following their unlawful defection from our Party, the PDP who sponsored their elections to the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Monday, December 11, 2023.

“The Commission may recall that our Party, the PDP nominated all our 32 State House of Assembly candidates in Rivers State for the 2023 General Election on the 7th of July 2022 via your electronic candidate election nomination portal (See attached acknowledgement).

“The Commission may also recall that following the nomination, the Commission conducted election into the Rivers State House of Assembly on the 18th of March, 2023 and our Party won 32 seats in the state Assembly. The elected State House of Assembly members were inaugurated and sworn-in on June, 2023.

“However, on Monday, 11 December, 2023 a period of just six (6) months after inauguration, 27 out of the 32 members publicly announced their defection from our Party to the All Progressive Congress (APC). This defection is a gross violation of Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As amended).

“The only two grounds of division and merger provided for in the Constitution that permit such defection are completely non-existent in our political Party. It therefore means that the defections of the 27 members are without lawful excuse and these members have vacated their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly by the operations of Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.

“In view of the foregoing, we hereby demand that the Commission performs its constitutional duties and begin the process of conducting a Fresh Election to fill the vacancies created in the 27 State Constituencies by the unlawful act of the Assembly members. Find attached the list of the 27 State Assembly Members and their Constituencies.

“While thanking the Commission for its commitment to deepening democracy in our country, please accept the assurances of our highest regards.”

Damagun writes INEC to conduct by-election for 27 vacant Rivers assembly seats

Politics

Nigeria would have been better under Peter Obi, too much nepotism under Tinubu – Senator Abaribe

Published

1 day ago

November 26, 2024

Trends Admin

Nigeria would have been better under Peter Obi, too much nepotism under Tinubu – Senator Abaribe

Nigeria would have been better than what it is currently if Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), had won the 2023 elections, the senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said.

Abaribe, who spoke on ‘Politics Today,’ a Channels Television programme, on Monday, said Obi would not have been as nepotistic as the administration of President Bola Tinubu.

“Number one, he would not be as nepotistic as this government; he won’t; it’s not in him. That is just who we are; we feel for the other people.”

The lawmaker called attention to Tinubu’s appointment of four ministers from Ogun alone, noting that many other states have just one.

“I say it, and I don’t think so. We are seeing it everyday. I just gave you one example. How can Ogun state have four ministers? Why does he favour Ogun state? Oyo state has only one minister,” Abaribe said.

”The nepotism of Buhari, which nobody followed, has now deepened under President Tinubu because Buhari did it, and nobody said much. I was the only person shouting.”

He said that rather than waiting for presidents to be fair to the people of the south-east, it is high time people of the zone went back to revamp it, make it more livable, better, and more cohesive.

“It’s obvious that if we continue to look at whoever becomes president, they will look at us and do us right. Apart from Obasanjo and maybe Jonathan, I do not think that we have seen that same type of fairness,” he said.

Politics

Lagos 2027: Seyi Tinubu campaign team releases his life documentary

Published

2 days ago

November 25, 2024

Trends Admin

Seyi Tinubu

Lagos 2027: Seyi Tinubu campaign team releases his life documentary

Seyi Tinubu, son of President Bola Tinubu, has been tipped for the seat of Lagos governor in the 2027 governorship election.

This was according to a video making the rounds on various social media platforms, which Peoples Gazette saw on Sunday.

The video highlights the president’s son’s biography, focusing on his education, career, and humanitarian activities as a Nigerian. It also documents his involvement in youth development in the country.

This biopic comes on the heels of some groups’ endorsements of Mr Tinubu’s son as a potential successor to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in 2027.

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On Tuesday, the Coalition of Nigerian Youth Leaders issued an endorsement in Owerri, Imo, suggesting that the younger Tinubu would be welcomed to contest the governorship seat in Osun or Imo.

He was also endorsed by Friends of Seyi, a group emphasising his vision and intellectual wherewithal to govern the country’s commercial nerve.

APC chieftain Joe Igbokwe, however, described the gale of endorsements as a ploy to undermine the president in a Facebook post.

“Who are these faceless people pushing Seyi Tinubu for Lagos governor? This is a needless distraction,” said Mr Igbokwe. “To pull PBAT down is their target. Ruling Lagos is not the job of boys.”