The senate and the house of representatives have harmonised their positions in the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2010 and inserted the “consensus” mode of nominating candidates by political parties for elections
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had declined assent to the bill and called for insertion of consensus clause.
Recall also that the senate had included the clause but the lower chamber adopted only direct and indirect primary methods of selection.
Nevertheless, the house of representatives reversed itself, concurring with the position of the senate.
Briefing journalist in Abuja yesterday after the plenary, spokesman for the house, Mr. Benjamin Kalu, explained that the new version of the bill would be transmitted to the president within seven days.
He clarified that Clause 84 Sub Section 9 of the bill seeks a written consent by aspirants for an election, without which direct or indirect primary as the case may be, will be considered for the sake of transparency
He said the harmonisation was effected in deference to nation building, a joint task and collective responsibility of all.
According to him, the selection options to be adopted by political parties are not a blanket but have conditions to be met for the sake of fairness and transparency.
Meanwhile, the senate president, Mr. Ahmad Lawan warned political parties against flouting provisions of the law, threatening that the erring ones stand the chance of not participating in the elections.
“If this bill is signed into law, it will have the responsibility of ensuring that political parties follow the law, otherwise they will end up missing their opportunity to participate in elections.
At the plenary yesterday, senate leader, Mr. Abdullahi Abubakar, sponsored a motion titled, ‘Rescission on Clause 84 of the Electoral Act No.6 2010(Amendment) Bill, 2022 and committal to the committee of the whole.
Relying on Order 1(b) and Order 52(a) of its extant rules, the upper legislative chamber resolved to rescind its decision on the affected clause and re-commit same to the committee of the whole for re-consideration and passage.
