How clause 29(1) of the newly amended electoral act may affect the APC

It will interest you to note that after heightened anxieties over the fate of the reworked Electoral Act Amendment Bill as the 2023 elections approach, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), eventually signed the bill into law on Friday. It was gathered from a reliable source that the President’s assent came 25 days after receiving the reworked bill from the National Assembly. The Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo; President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, witnessed the event, which took place at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

One of the clauses in the new Electoral Act as amended, that is capable of affecting the All Progressives Congress, APC is Clause 29(1). It may interest you to note that the amended Electoral Act Bill gives room for early conduct of party primaries and early submission of candidates’ list as captured in Clause 29(1) of the 2022 electoral bill. In Section 29(1), the newly signed Electoral Act makes it a law for political parties to conduct their primaries and submit the list of candidates at least 180 days (6 months) before the general elections. The list of candidates submitted must emerge from valid primaries conducted by the political party.

How do you explain a situation whereby the ruling party with 22 governors and the deputy governor of Anambra state, and a majority in parliament cannot put their act together and hold their convention? It should be recalled that when the national convention was fixed for February 26 after three previous postponements, the media naturally feasted on the news. After their meeting in Abuja last Monday, the caretaker and extra-ordinary convention planning committee (CECPC) fixed March 26 as the new date of the national convention of APC.

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The convention has not been held mainly because of the permutations around the politics of 2023. Initially, there was no clarity on whether the presidency would be zoned to the south but now that the party has affirmed the position, it means the chairman will come from the north. More so, a series of internal crises bedeviling the party has not allowed them to conduct their national convention. Now that political parties have 6 months (180 days) to conduct their primary election and submit the list of candidates, the APC may be affected. Without resolving their issues they will keep postponing their conventional and delay themselves in conducting their primary election since virtually all the APC states are being plagued with an internal crisis.