Direct Primaries: National Assembly Vs Governors

Will President Muhammadu Buhari sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill recently passed by the National Assembly to allow the use of direct primaries to select candidates for the 2023 general elections or will he succumb to pressure from governors? The issue has been generating tension the political circles. TONY AKOWE reports

When the House of Representatives considered the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters on the Electoral Act amendment on July 16, it was to give Nigerians a document that will transform the electoral process and make it better. The committee had recommended the use of either direct or indirect primary for the selection of candidates by political parties for elective offices. The document also spelt out guidelines for whatever mode of primary any party may choose to adopt. Exercising his constitutional right, Speaker of the House of Representatives Femi Gbajabiamila moved an amendment to the provisions of Section 87 to delete the indirect mode of primary, while leaving only the direct mode. His amendment was seconded and unanimously passed by the committee of the whole. According to the House standing rules, the deputy speaker presides over committees of the whole where bills and reports are considered.

The Speaker only presides over the plenary and committee of supply where money bills are considered. Even though he is the overall leader of the House, his motion must also pass through the normal legislative processes before they are adopted. Nigerians waited anxiously to see what the lawmakers will do with the document. Ironically, Nigerians paid little attention to that aspect of the law probably because the Senate adopted both direct and indirect primary. After that consideration, the lawmakers went on vacation, spending almost two months with their constituents, after which, the senators came back and changed their minds. They recommitted the clause as well as the controversial Clause 52 to the committee of the whole, joining the House in approving only direct primary for the selection of candidates by political parties. Gbajabiamila said he moved the amendment because of his belief that it would create a level-playing ground for Nigerians to fully participate in the leadership process.

He said: “If I know that my return will depend on a few men, I may not care about you. But if I know that my return will depend on my accountability and representation to the people, I will do the right thing. This generation needs to open the door of leadership to the next generation. We must allow every Nigerian to participate fully in the process of leadership. I, therefore, stand with a direct primary. That’s why I said at different fora that I’m for direct primary. We have to do this for the sake of the institution. When you gather yourselves (as youths), chances are that you’ll win. Democracy is a government of the people. Democracy is not just a general election; it starts from the primaries.”

Senator Kabiru Gaya, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), agrees. He said the direct primary option will eliminate godfatherism and allow the people to choose their leaders without any undue influence. While denying any running battle with the governors, he said direct mode of primary is the way to go, in the interest of Nigerians. He is optimistic that President Muhammadu Buhari who he said believes in giving the power to the people will sign the bill into law without any delay. In a televised interview, he said:  “The essence of amendment of any act is to improve the act. The amendment was made to address some of the challenges usually associated with our elections. The direct primary is essentially meant to give power to the grassroots, a thing the president prefers, being a democrat who believes that the power should be with the people.”

However, immediately after the Senate decided to reverse itself and accept the House of Representatives version of direct primary, the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the position, accusing the APC of rolling back democracy in the country with the decision. Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary said in a statement that adopting direct primary for election in all political parties is a retrogressive provision that seeks to wipe off all the gains achieved in the electoral system since 1999.

However, in his book, ‘Power of Possibility and Politics of Change in Nigeria’, the Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Mohammed Lukman gives kudos to the direct mode of primary. On pages 38 to 40 of the 196-page book published in 2019, Lukman said: “The announcement that the party (APC) would resort to direct primary in the selection of candidates elicited excitement among APC members. Perhaps because of its potential to trigger some fundamental changes in the political landscape, ostensibly towards shifting the locus of power from gatekeepers to party membership, the widespread interests the decision for direct primary generated both within the party and in the general public were as contentious as they were predictable.

In simple terms, there were expectations of possible changes in the dynamics of leaders-members relationships within the political party’s governance framework. It is a governance framework that encourages the monetisation of candidates’ selection across all parties, which is much despised by party members and the public, but also painfully costly to aspirants and candidates. The rationale for direct primary based on expanding the democratic space for membership participation is hardly contestable all things considered.”

Curiously, Lukman appeared to have eaten his words after the National Assembly inserted into the electoral act a clause that will allow for direct primary, an exercise that has widely been applauded by Nigerians across the political divide. Unaware of the function of the lawmakers in amending existing laws and making a new one for the good governance of the country, the director-general accused the lawmakers of inserting what he described as a controversial clause in the electoral act on the ground that the original bill presented to them which was subjected to public debate did not contain some of the provisions that are currently contained in the bill as passed and awaiting presidential assent. He believes that the brains behind the inclusion of direct primary as the mode of determining party flag bearers were quiet on its inadequacies when it worked for them.

In his recent statement on the direct primary, Lukman said: “It is worrisome that the APC members in the National Assembly are the ones pushing for this amendment. Rather than leaders of the party negotiating among themselves on what needs to be done to produce internal agreement to resolve all challenges facing the party, increasingly, structures of the party are being abandoned and other structures outside the statutory organs of the party are being used to attempt to address perceived problems. The whole insertion of the provisions requiring political parties to adopt the direct method in the Electoral Act would appear to be an afterthought because the original bill that was subjected to the joint public hearing by both the Senate and House of Representatives did not contain it. It was during the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill after the public hearing in July 2021 that the Speaker of the House moved the motion for the amendment to allow direct primaries to be part of the amendment.”

Abdullahi, however, believes that the current law as passed is highly inadequate and leaves more room for manipulation. He said it may produce more disaster for the country beyond what the nation is going through under the indirect method. He said there is a need to rework the section by inviting Nigerians to another public hearing on whether the issue of the direct primary should be allowed in the law. He said being a sensitive issue, no Standing Order of the National Assembly should be used to block the democratic rights of Nigerians in contributing to the law.

He said: “Unless leaders of the National Assembly are interested in blocking the possibility of amending the Electoral Act and want to shift the blame on President Buhari, it would be very inappropriate politically to expect the president to assent to the Electoral Act amendment with the provisions in Section 87 and all its ambiguities. The leadership of the National Assembly should take responsibility and not pass the buck.”

Former Senior Special Assistant to former Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, Umar Sani believes the direct primary option of selecting candidates for election will take the party back to the original owners and give them a sense of belonging in the decision-making process of their parties. He also believes that those opposed to the direct primary right now are those who believe that their candidates have already secured tickets for the next general elections. He said President Buhari must not allow the governors to decide who succeeds him. He said: “I like the direct primary because it will return the parties to the original owners which are the card-carrying party members who will now feel a sense of belonging.

Sani said: “If the president allows the thing to go down to the grassroots, it means that it is the people of Nigeria that will determine who succeeds him and not the governors because they can no longer be foisting people on us. If the system had been deregulated to allow for an independent candidate, which would have been different because Nigerians will have an alternative. But, now, you don’t have that privilege of voting for an independent candidate and so, you have to follow the two major parties. Just like the United States, the Nigerian political system has evolved and you now have majorly the APC and the PDP and so, there is a limitation of choice. If you have a limitation of choice and both candidates are imposed, you will be selecting from imposed candidates. So, we support the direct primary. Those people who thought that they have already gotten the ticket are now afraid because it is no longer the delegate system and, so, they cannot manipulate the delegates. I believe this will also stop crossing over from one party to the other. If you lose the ticket in one party, you will be sure that it is because the people don’t like you and not the governor not liking you.”

But, governors across party lines are not comfortable with the position of the National Assembly on the mode of primaries. Many of the governors who are second timers are believed to have the ambition of either heading to the Senate or contesting the presidency in 2023 and these governors, especially those with senatorial ambition are already at loggerheads with their senators. In the same vein, some of the governors are not ready to allow those not favoured by them to get an elective ticket for their parties. A planned meeting between the APC governors and the APC caucus in the National Assembly which was believed to have targeted getting them not to approve the direct mode of primaries ended before it even began as the lawmakers tactically passed the Electoral Act before the meeting.

Governors that have openly voiced their disagreement to the direct primary mode are Kebbi State governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu and his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello. Both governors have widely been rumoured to have presidential ambition. The Kogi governor said the governors are not afraid of the direct primary, but are opposed to it because it would not well. He warned that the decision would boomerang and hurt democracy in the long run.

The Kogi State governor said: “The argument of returning the party to the people does not arise, because who took the party away from the people in the first place? I think the party remains with the people. The first thing is that the National Assembly is expected to do its job and we, as governors, respect that a lot. But, I have to warn that the few senators, including Senator Adamu Aliero, who are having issues with their governors, will not be right to push down direct primary on Nigerians.”

He is of the view that the option being proposed is likely to pitch the people against their leaders. He said if it is allowed to happen, it will consume everyone in the end. He said the drafters of the constitution already considered the issue of option when drafting it. “So, it will be wrong for some people, based on their interests, to seek to change that now,” he added.

– The Nation