Group kicks, as Buhari seeks immediate correction on Electoral Act 2022

Barely hours after finally assenting to the harmonised Electoral Act Amendment 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the National Assembly to immediately correct a section of the document that contravenes the rights of political office holders to vote or be voted for in political party conventions and congresses.

President Buhari made the call on Friday, shortly after appending his signature on the Amended Electoral Act.

“Section 84 (12) constitutes a disenfranchisement of serving political office holders from voting or being voted for at Conventions or Congresses of any political party, for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election in cases where it holds earlier than 30 days to the National Election.

Quoting the section, the President said: “84(12) No political appointee at any level shall be voting delegate or be voted for at the Convention or Congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election,” the President noted it had introduced qualification and disqualification criteria that ultra vires the Constitution by way of importing blanket restriction and disqualification to serving political office holders of which they are constitutionally accorded protection.

“The practical application of section 84(12) of the Electoral Bill, 2022 will, if assented to, by operation of law, subject serving political office holders to inhibitions and restrictions referred to under section 40 and 42 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

“It is imperative to note that the only constitutional expectation placed on serving political office holders that qualify, by extension, as public officers within the context of the constitution is resignation, withdrawal or retirement at least 30 days before the date of the election.”

The Nigerian leader noted that it would not be right for the country’s democratic processes to overstretch beyond constitutional limits.

“Hence, it will be stretching things beyond the constitutional limit to import extraneous restrictions into the constitution on account of practical application of section 84(12) of the bill where political parties’ conventions and congresses were to hold earlier than 30 days to the election,” he added.

President Buhari said The Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2022, passed by the National Assembly, holds a lot of promise for improving the election processes in the country, with the introduction of new technology, and efforts to engender clarity and transparency.

“I am making this bold declaration because I foresee the great potentials of the Bill. Worthy of note include the democratic efficacy of the Bill with particular reference to sections 3, 9(2), 34, 41, 47, 84(9), (10) and (11) among others.

“This, however, cannot be said about one provision as contained in the proposed Bill, which provision constitutes a fundamental defect, as it is in conflict with extant constitutional provisions.

“Arising from the foregoing, with particular regards to the benefits of the Bill, industry, time, resources and energy committed in its passage, I hereby assent to the Bill and request the Nationally Assembly consider immediate amendments that will bring the Bill in tune with constitutionality by way of deleting section 84(12) accordingly,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, a  group, the Unified Nigerian Youth Forum (UNYF), while commending Buhari for assenting to the Electora Act, urged the National Assembly to ignore the President’s appeal that the lawmakers expunge section 84 which stipulated that “anyone holding any political office either as a minister, commissioner, special adviser and others, he/she must relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate either as a delegate or candidate.”

According to him, the request by the President is not in the interest of the nation’s democracy and the institution saddled with the conduct of our election.

In a statement by the group’s National President, Abdulsalam Kazeem, in Kaduna, the group said the various clauses as outlined in the bill, would no doubt strengthen the nation’s democracy.

“The credibility of our polls will bring about positive impact on us among nations, therefore, the appeal by President Mohammad Buhari to the leadership of 9th National Assembly to immediately amend the Act and expunge section 84 which stipulated that anyone holding any political office either as a minister, commissioner, special adviser and others, he/she must relinquish the position before they can be eligible to participate either as a delegate or candidate, should be outrightly ignored since the request is not in the interest of the nation’s democracy and the institution saddled with the conduct of our election.

 “Anything short of this will further prove to Nigerians that our legislative arm of government is a rubber stamp as previously alleged by many political affairs analysts.

“The President must at the point prove to us that national interest supersedes individual and personal demands by not using his above request to delay the release of fund which in return will slow down preparations of the 2023 general elections,” the group said.