The provisions of the Electoral Amendment Act Amendment Bill that all political parties must adopt
the direct method of primary election will solve the problems of imposition of candidates, vote-buying, rigging, manipulation, associated with indirect methods of the delegates system.
The Director-General of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF), Dr. Salihu Lukman, made the observation in a statement in Abuja, saying that the expectation is that direct primary will bring political party leaders closer to members and consequently, citizens closer to their elected representatives.
Lukman, however, observed that if the objective of compelling political parties to adopt the direct method is to ensure a credible process of nominating party candidates, additional provisions covering issues of how membership records of political parties should be kept, and processes and procedure required under the Act to satisfy admissibility of members of the party during direct elections should be well outlined.
He argued that beyond the sentiments in favour of direct primary therefore, there is the need to properly outline a clear administrative framework under the law, which will guide the process and guarantee that all the bad practices associated with the indirect method are eliminated.
He further noted that besides the issue of using the indirect method as a means of imposing candidates through corrupt practices, almost all elected representatives in the National Assembly are as guilty as the State governors.
According to the PGF chieftain, Based on proposed new Section 87 of the amended Electoral Act, which leaves many open spaces for manipulation in the law, problems of internal democracy within parties may only get worse.
He said that the whole debate about adopting the direct method as part of the Electoral Act is mainly an APC agenda and there may be a calculated attempt by a section of APC leadership whose interest is to hoodwink APC members and Nigerians with the direct primary dummy.
Lukman strongly recommended that given that the whole controversy about the proposed Electoral Act amendment is limited to the new insertions in Section 87, the National Assembly should consider reworking issues under Section 87 to make it unambiguous.
He said the reworked new provisions should go through all the legislative processes, including a public hearing, to enable Nigerians also contribute to making the law.
