Reps To Amend Mode Of Primaries In Electoral Bill On Wednesday – Gbajabiamila

The House of Representatives is set to amend the provision of Direct Primaries in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila disclosed this on Tuesday in his welcome remarks to members of the House.

The speaker said the version of the bill circulating is not the same as the version sent to President Muhammadu Buhari. He, however, assigned a committee to investigate this.

According to him, the argument that political parties do not have a proper register of all their members is an indictment of the parties themselves.

He wondered how they are able to conduct elections through direct or indirect methods without a comprehensive register.

The speaker also ruled out hopes of overriding President Buhari on the issue.

The lawmakers resumed plenary on Tuesday after their Christmas and New Year break after proceeding on holiday in December.

Before the holiday, they had deliberated on and passed some important bills including the controversial Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

Gbajabiamila in a speech to the lawmakers in December to mark the adjournment of the House for the Christmas and New Year break said the House will address the matter in January 2022.

Gbajabiamila explained that the time was short to address the sensitive issue at hand in haste because members were set to proceed on break, and they must pass other important bills such as the 2022 Appropriation Bill and the Finance Bill before doing so.

President Buhari had earlier withheld his assent to the bill citing the cost of conducting direct primary elections, security challenges, and possible manipulation of electoral processes by political actors as reasons.