The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila has read President Muhammadu Buhari’s letter on his refusal to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

The letter read by Gbajabiamila was dated December 13, 2021, was received by the House on December 21, 2021.

It was titled, ‘Withholding of Assent to Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021.’

“Further to the fetter dated 18th November, 2021, forwarded for presidential assent, the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021, as passed by the National Assembly, I have received informed advice from relevant ministries, departments and agencies of the government, and have also carefully reviewed the bill in light of the current realities prevalent in the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the circumstances.

“Arising from the review, Rt. Honourable Speaker may wish to note that the conduct of elections for the nomination of party candidates solely via direct primaries as envisaged by the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 has serious adverse legal, financial, economic and security consequences which cannot be accommodated at the moment considering our nation’s peculiarities. It also has implications on the rights of citizens to participate in the government as constitutionally ensured.

“The amendment as proposed is a violation of the underlying spirit of democracy which is characterised by freedom of choices. Political party membership is a voluntary exercise of the constitutional right to freedom of association.

Several millions of Nigerians are not card carrying members of any political party. Thus, the emphasis should be on enabling qualified Nigerians to vote for the candidate of their choice during general elections as a means of participation in governance and furtherance of the concept of universal adult suffrage or universal franchise.

The proposed amendment may also give rise to plethora of Iitigations based on diverse grounds and issues of Law, including but not limited to the fact that the proposed amendment cannot work in retrospect given that the existing Constitution of the parties already registered with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) permits direct, indirect and consensus primaries. This real possibility, will, without doubt, truncate the electoral program of the nation as another electoral exercise is imminent towards a change of government in 2023.

“Nigeria is at the moment still grappling with the issues of monetisation of the political process and vote buying at both party and general elections. The direct implication of institutionalising only direct primaries is the aggravation of over-monetisation of the process as there will be much more people a contestant needs to reach out to thereby further fuelling corruption and abuse of office by incumbent contestants who may resort to public resources to satisfy the increased demands and logistics of winning party primaries.

“Direct primaries are also subject or susceptible to manipulation or malpractices as most parties cannot boast of reliable and verified membership Register or valid means of identification which therefore means non-members can be recruited to vote by wealthy contestants to influence the outcome. Rival parties can also conspire and mobilise people to vote against a good or popular candidate in a party during its primaries just to pave way for their own candidates. Whereas where voting is done by accredited delegates during indirect primaries, the above irregularities are not possible.

“The major conclusions arrived at upon the review are highlighted hereunder, to wit:

“Asides its serious adverse legal, financial, economic and security consequences, the limitation or restriction of the nomination procedures available to political parties and their members constitutes an affront to the right to freedom of association. It is thus undemocratic to restrict the procedure or means of nomination of candidates by political parties, as it also amounts to undue interference in the affairs of political parties.

“Indirect primaries or collegiate elections are part of internationally accepted electoral practices. More so, direct primaries are not free from manipulations and do not particularly guarantee the emergence of the will of the people especially in circumstances like ours where it is near impossible to sustain a workable implementation framework or structure thereof.

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“In the premise of the above, I hereby signify to the National Assembly that I am constrained to withhold assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 in line with the provisions of Section 58(1) & (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). It is my considered position that the political parties should be allowed to freely exercise right of choice in deciding which of direct or indirect primary to adopt in the conduct of their primary elections as their respective realities may permit.

“Please accept, Rt. Honourable Speaker, the assurance of my highest deration and esteem.”

However human rights lawyer, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, on Tuesday called on the National the National Assembly to invoke the provisions of section 58(5) of the Constitution to pass the Bill into law, through two-thirds majority of both Houses.”

Adegboruwa lamented that President Buhari ‘prefers to retain all the flaws of Nigeria’s electoral system because he and the All Progressives Congress, APC, are benefiting from it.

Adegboruwa’s statement reads: “Under and by virtue of Paragraph 15 (b) of Part 1 to the Second Schedule of the 1999 Constitution as amended, INEC shall register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and an Act of the National Assembly.

“By virtue of section 222 (a) of the Constitution, no association, by whatever name called, shall function as a political party, unless a copy of its constitution is registered with INEC.

“By virtue of section 223 (1) (a) of the Constitution, the constitution and rules of a political party shall provide for period election on a DEMOCRATIC basis of its principal officers.

“By virtue of section 224 of the Constitution, the Programme as well as the aims and objectives of a political party shall conform with the provisions of Chapter 2 of the Constitution.

“By virtue of section 40 of the Constitution, INEC is conferred with the power to register or refuse registration of political parties.

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“From all the above, the Constitution, the Electoral Act and indeed INEC, are to regulate the activities of all political parties, including their various constitutions. That being the case, the reason adduced by the President, for withholding his assent to the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, that the said Bill violates the constitution of the political parties, is not supported by the Constitution which created the political parties in the first place.

“The registration of political parties is regulated by INEC in accordance with the Constitution and the Electoral Act. Thus, the constitutions of all political parties are to conform with these laws and not the other way round. It is the political parties that will amend their constitutions to conform with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

“Since the President assumed office, he has withheld his assent to virtually all amendments to the Electoral Act, even though he promised electoral reforms during his campaigns. What this means is that the President prefers to retain all the manifest flaws bedeviling our electoral system, from which himself and his ruling party are benefiting to the detriment of our democratic advancement.

“Although the President is entitled to the discretion of his assent to any Bill presented to him, however, the reason adduced for the exercise of such presidential discretion must be legal and valid. It is clear that the discretion has not been properly exercised in the national interest, in this particular case.

“I, therefore, urge the National Assembly to invoke the provisions of section 58(5) of the Constitution to pass the Bill into law, through two-thirds majority of both Houses.”