Senate President Godswill Akpabio has hinted that the Electoral Act 2022 will be amended to include statutory delegates in political parties’ primaries slated for next year ahead of the 2027 elections.
Akpabio spoke in Abuja on Monday during a meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
The senate president said the omission of statutory delegates from primaries of political parties in the Electoral Act was a mistake that must be corrected before the next general election.
“There were defects in the last Electoral Act that was amended,” Akpabio said.
“So, we want to cure some of the defects that we found in our electoral system. I can tell you one.
“Without any particular intention of the parliament, in the 2023 elections and the 2022 primaries, we inadvertently, created what I may call super-delegates.
“Because all the statutory delegates, starting from the president, the vice-president, the governors, deputy governors, the senate president, deputy senate president, speaker, deputy speaker, members of parliament, national, sub-national, chairman of councils, and all, were omitted as delegates.
“These are areas that we think we can look at in order to make our democracy more participatory. Because democracy is all about numbers.”
Akpabio noted that with the current Electoral Act, a delegate is not welcome to the primaries, “unless you contested to be an ad hoc delegate to select flag bearers of the legislative houses, governorship, and then, of course, flag bearer of the presidential conventions in all the political parties across the country”.
He said the senate will also look at the powers given to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), “as the last arbiter as to who decides who is a candidate and not the political parties”.
The senate president said political parties should have the power to select candidates that will best serve their manifestos, “and have the integrity to represent their people and have a track record of performance to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people”.
Speaking earlier, Afam Osigwe, the NBA president, told Akpabio that the national assembly should ensure judicial reforms in the ongoing constitutional amendment.
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