Senate amends Electoral Act to allow President, NASS Members, Govs, others vote at party congresses, primaries
PRESS
STATEMENT
Senate Amends Electoral Act To Allow
President, NASS Members, Govs, Others Vote At Party Congresses, Primaries
The
Senate, on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 amended the Electoral Act, 2022, to allow
‘statutory delegates’ - all those elected - to participate and vote in the
conventions, congresses or meetings of political parties.
This
followed the accelerated consideration of the Electoral Bill 2022 during plenary
session which scaled through first, second and third readings, respectively,
and passed by the chamber after consideration by the Committee of the
Whole.
Those
identified as ‘statutory delegates’ include the President, Vice President,
Members of the National Assembly, Governors and their Deputies, Members of the
State Houses of Assembly, Chairmen of Local Government Councils, Councillors,
Members of National Working Committee of Political Parties, amongst others.
The Bill
to amend the 2022 Electoral Act No. 13 was sponsored by the Deputy Senate
President, Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central).
Omo-Agege,
in his presentation, said the Bill seeks to amend the provision of section
84(8) of the Electoral Act.
According
to him, the provisions of the section “does not provide for the participation of
what is generally known as ‘Statutory Delegates’ in the conventions, congresses
or meetings of political parties.”
“The
extant section only clearly provides for the participation of elected delegates
in the conventions, congresses or meetings of political parties held to
nominate candidates of political parties.
“This is
an unintended error, and we can only correct it with this amendment now before
us”, the Deputy Senate President said.
Speaking
after the Bill to amend the 2022 Electoral Act was passed, the Senate
President, Ahmad Lawan, in his remarks, said that the amendment became
imperative in view of the deficiency created by the provision of section 84(8)
of the extant Act.
He said,
“The amended Electoral Act of 2022 that we passed this year, has a deficiency
that was never intended and that deficiency will deny all statutory delegates
in all political parties from participation in congresses and conventions.
“And,
therefore, such a major and unintended clause has to be amended before the
party primaries starts in the next eight days. This is an emergency
legislation, so to speak.
“Our
expectation is that the National Assembly - the two chambers - would finish the
processing of this amendment Bill, between today (in the Senate) and tomorrow
(in the House of Representatives), and then the Executive will do the assent.
“This is
so important to enable every Statutory Delegate to participate in the party
primaries right from the beginning, which will start on the 18th of May, 2022”.
“So, this
is an emergency effort to ensure that nobody is denied his or her rightful
opportunity as a delegate, especially the Statutory Delegates, and those who
are elected”.
“These
are the President, Vice President, Members of the National Assembly, Governors,
Members of the State Houses of Assembly, Chairmen of Local Government Councils
and their Councillors, National Working Committee Members of all the political
parties and so on”.
“This is
a fundamental effort to ensure that we address this within the week, so that by
next week, the Electoral Act, 2022 (amended version), will be very ready for us
to start our party primaries”.
Signed:
Dr. Ezrel
Tabiowo, FAI, FIMC, CMC, FCP, Fsca
Special
Assistant (Press)
To
President of the Senate
Tuesday,
May 10, 2022.