Senate bows to Buhari on Electoral Act Amendment

The Senate included the consensus primary mode in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday, as suggested by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

The bill, however, was amended by both chambers of the National Assembly, the Senate and the House of Representatives, to remove mandatory direct primaries.

While the House allowed parties to choose between direct and indirect primaries, the Senate included both direct and indirect primaries, as well as the consensus mode, which the President suggested in an interview with Channels Television a few weeks ago.

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During the interview, Buhari stated that, in addition to direct and indirect primaries, lawmakers should seek consensus.

“All I said was that there should be options,” he explained. “We must not insist on directness; consensus and indirectness are preferable.”

Buhari vetoed the electoral bill last year and sent it back to the National Assembly over the restriction on political parties holding direct primaries.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives had suspended action on the bill until after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives added the indirect primary option to Clause Section 87 of the Electoral Act 2010, which is Clause 84 of the electoral bill.

The Senate, on the other hand, adopted Clause 84(2), as recommended by the Committee of the Whole, and approved direct primary, indirect primary, or consensus as procedures for political parties to nominate candidates for elections.

The disagreement between the two houses is expected to delay the bill’s passage.

The Senate also approved the proposed Clause 84(3), which states, “A political party that uses the direct primaries procedure shall ensure that all aspirants have an equal opportunity to be voted for by party members and shall follow the procedure outlined below: (a) In the case of Presidential Primaries, all registered members of the party must vote for their preferred aspirant at a designated center in each ward of the federation.

It also states that a “similar procedure as in (a) above shall be adopted for governorship, senatorial, federal, and state constituencies.”
Yahaya Abdullahi (APC/Kebbi-North), the Senate Majority Leader, had moved to recommit the bill to the Committee of the Whole.
The motion, according to Abdullahi, was made in response to the “need to address Mr. President’s observation and make necessary amendment in accordance with Order 87(c) of the Senate Standing Orders, 2022 (as amended); and relying on Order 1(b) and 52(6) of the Senate Standing Orders, 2022 (as amended).”
The Senate’s action, it was learned, was based on the President’s request.
However, the bill did not have an easy time in the House.

As a result, Gbajabiamila convened an executive (closed-door) session that lasted about 30 minutes.

When the chamber was opened, there was a lot of noise, which indicated that there was a disagreement among the lawmakers.

Elumelu and the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, led the other opposition members to a corner of the chamber where they met for about five minutes, agreed on what to do, and then dispersed to their respective seats.

When the Speaker called the chamber to order, he requested that all items on the day’s order paper be stepped down except the recommittal of the electoral bill – Item 6, the first motion of the day, and Item 9, the first report for consideration.

Abubakar Fulata, Chairman of the House Rules and Business Committee, moved the recommital to the Committee of the Whole.

The motion was seconded by Elumelu.