Lawmakers succumb to President Buhari’s Direct primaries

The House of Representatives on Tuesday finally bowed to the demands of President Buhari to include mandatory Direct primaries recommended for political parties.
On resumption last week, both the Senate and the House of Representatives, expunged clause 87(2) which contained the provisions and replaced it with clause 84 which widened the option.

But while the Senate in clause 84, makes provision for three options of Direct, Indirect and Consensus as possible modes of primary elections political parties can use in electing their candidates for general elections, the House’s version limited the options to Direct and Indirect primaries.

In getting the re–amended bill transmitted to the President for assent within the available time frame ahead of the 2023 general elections, the House as announced in plenary Tuesday by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has concurred with the Senate’s version of the amendment at a joint leadership meeting of both chambers.

Recall that the National Assembly had in November last year, transmitted the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent but the President refused to assent the bill on account of mandatory Direct Primaries recommended for political parties without options.