The upper legislative chamber of the national assembly on Tuesday 12 of October decided to adopt direct primary as a mode of nominating candidates for all political parties in Nigeria.
This is contrary to indirect primary through delegates which was adopted when the bills was previously passed in July.
While presenting a motion for the amendment before the Senate, Senate Majority Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi said after a thorough examination of the Bill by the Senate Committee on INEC, some very important issues were observed which required fresh legislative action.
Among the clauses that required legislative action according to him include 43,52,62,87.
The upper red chamber affirm Clause 87 that mandate political party seeking to nominate candidates to hold direct primaries for all aspirants to all elective positions to be monitored by INEC.
Also in the new amendment of Clause 52 (2) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Senate placed voting at an election and transmission of results to be solely determined by INEC as the commission deem fits.
The Senate made a U-turn on the mode of transmission of results by INEC through the amendment of clause 52 (2) of the bill, when they earlier passed the bill in July that particularly drew a lot of criticisms from many Nigerians and stakeholders in the electoral process.
The bill, if assented to by president Muhammadu Buhari will nolify current arrangements where party candidates are only nominated through the directives of the party national executives council, which gives more power to party excos and the governor’s of the party.
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