Buhari, Governors, NASS Members will Not Vote In APC, PDP Conventions

Members of the National Assembly were at the weekend gripped with tension over the dithering procrastination of President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the amended 2022 Electoral Bill to allow the legislators, the president, governors and other statutory delegates to vote in the conventions of the political parties.

GWGNG reports that in passing the 2022 Electoral Bill that the lawmakers had specifically provided that appointees of the president and the governors would not be allowed to vote or be voted for in congresses to nominate candidates for the parties.

The lawmakers had at the point of the assent of the bill had reached an agreement that the provision as stipulated in Section 84 (12) would be amended after the assent. However, the lawmakers turned down the amendment as subsequently requested by the president.

It was, however, later realised that in shutting out the appointees of the president that they also forgot to include statutory delegates including the president, governors and lawmakers.

According to Section 84 (8) of the Electoral Act, only elected delegates of a party can participate in conventions and congresses.

The lawmakers had on May 11 rushed through an amendment of the Electoral Act to repair the provision and rushed it to the president. However, the president has yet to give his assent and there are indications that the president may not sign it.

Mallam Garba Shehu told The Nation on Saturday minutes after the president’s plane touched down after the two day condolence visit to Dubai that the president had not signed it. That was contrary to rife media reports that he had signed the bill.

GWGNG reports that the implication is that the number of delegates to vote at the national conventions of the PDP, APC would be drastically reduced with President Buhari and the governors excluded.

For the PDP only the national delegates from the 774 local governments of the country and the FCT and one special delegate representing the disabled would be present in the national convention. The number is estimated to be 810.

In the APC only the elected delegates who are not expected to be more than 3,000 are expected at the convention.

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