By Henry Umoru & Johnbosco Agbakwuru
SPEAKER of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari will soon sign into law the Electoral Act Amendment Bill that contains direct primaries for all political parties.
He stated this in an interview with State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
There has been a sharp disagreement between members of the National Assembly and state governors over the mode of primaries for political parties.
While the Senate and the House of Representatives in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill approved direct primaries for political parties, the governors are insisting on indirect primaries.
But the speaker said President Buhari had been a product of direct primaries because of its popularity, adding that direct primaries opened up the political space for the youths to participate.
He noted that indirect primaries, which had been the practice in the selection of candidates for political parties for elections, had not helped the growth of democracy in the country.
He gave the assurance that the President would soon sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill into law, now that he was back from official engagements.
He said: “Hopefully, President will get the bill transmitted to him now that he is back. We are hopeful it will become a law.
“We at the National Assembly are for direct primaries. We are for the empowerment of the people at the grassroots. Let everyone participate in governance. Democracy is government of the people for the people and by the people.
“Indirect primaries had been here for sometime but it is not helping our democracy. We passed the bill on not too young to run but it is only on paper. With direct primaries, we have opened up the space for the young people.
“It is not dependent on any godfather. The indirect primaries is easier for me but I opt for direct primaries, if I lose, I go.
“President Buhari believes in direct primaries, it has been popular and has always been from inception in politics.”
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday disclosed that the passed Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 by the National Assembly will be transmitted to President Muhammadu Muhammad Buhari this week for assent.
The Senate had last week passed the much anticipated harmonized version of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021after both the Upper Chamber and the House of Representatives deliberated extensively on the report of the conference committee on the bill.
READ ALSO: Buhari believes in direct primaries —Gbajabiamila
Speaking with journalists yesterday in Abuja, Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, All Progressives Congress, APC, Kano South, who expressed optimism that the President would sign the amended bill into law, said the Senate would test all the voting machines to be used by the electoral umpire before the 2022 elections.“On the issue of direct primary, Senator Gaya said: ” I believe that direct primary is taking democracy to the grassroots. That is what President Buhari always talk about. It will allow people who are card carrying members of the party to decide who should be their candidate. ”We are happy with it and we believe President Buhari will sign the bill very soon. The National Assembly will transmit the bill to the President this week for assent and we expect that he will sign it into law by the grace of God.”
Speaking on the Electoral Act, Senator Gaya said: “Its amendments were made based on the views and requests of Nigerians. I believe it will help to guarantee free, fair and credible elections in the country.”
On Anambra State gubernatorial election, he said: “We keenly watched the Anambra governorship election and we realised that the Bo-modal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, has serious problems.“”We are surprised that the machines malfunctioned at the Anambra governorship election because they worked perfectly when INEC demonstrated them for us at the committee. We have agreed to try the machines in other elections coming up in 2022 so as to determine their functionality before the 2023 general elections.
“We still have the Ekiti and Osun elections coming up. However, INEC is already working on the solution so that we would not have problems in 2023.
“I will not agree that it is a case of sabotage because it is an electronic device that could fail but we already have provisions for spare. If a machine fails, a new one would be brought in.
“It is even good that it happened in the Anambra governorship election. If it had happened at the general elections, it would be a catastrophe.
” Unlike in the past when funds for elections were not released a few weeks to elections, this time, we specifically mentioned that part of the funds meant for the election must be provided a year before the election.
“That is why we have a proposal for partial release of N100bn for for the 2023 general elections in the 2022 budget. We are hoping that we could get further funding before the election.
“The N100bn will allow INEC to order materials that it would need ahead of the elections including machines that could be manufactured here in the country.
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