Direct Primary: Jega warns NASS against over-ruling Buhari

Former INEC chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega has warned the National Assembly to halt the move to override President Muhammadu Buhari in the effort to pass into law the 2021 Electoral Bill.

Jega said since 2010, Nigeria has not had any substantive improvement on electoral laws like it is going to have if the 2021 Electoral Bill becomes law.

“With the way the provisions of the bill stand, the National Assembly should do the needful, rather than contemplating overriding the President by removing the contentious provisions,” said Jega on Sunday at a townhall YIAGA organized in Abuja.

He said the Bill contains quite a lot of good things that could enhance electoral integrity.

“The challenge is what the National Assembly introduced in the Electoral Bill which is without serious contemplation. It is very important that we have a lot of legal framework.

“I think clearly that the electoral process would have better integrity if we do direct primaries appropriately.

“Any governor that manipulates direct primaries can also manipulate the primaries indirectly.”

Buhari declined assent to the bill largely because it compels parties to adopt the direct primary mode.