Ministers, Aides Can’t be Automatic Delegates

Written by This Day Monday, 02 August 2010

Party Primaries

Ahead of the forthcoming state congresses and national convention of the various political parties to choose their presidential candidates for the 2011 election, the new electoral law passed by the National Assembly has barred ministers as well as aides of President Goodluck Jonathan and Vice-President Namadi Sambo from being automatic delegates at the convention.

Also barred in the proposed electoral law now waiting for the President’s assent are ambassadors and chairmen of boards of Federal corporations as well as commissioners, special advisers and assistants of state governors.

This provision has implications particularly in the Peopes Democratic Party (PDP) where there is already a move to whittle down the governors’ influence with the reduction in the number of their automatic delegates to the congresses and convention.
PDP Chairman Dr. Okwe-silieze Nwodo has always canvassed a drastic reduction in the number of automatic delegates, saying it gives governors undue advantage at the convention and primaries. 

Some governors have formed the habit of appointing new special assistants and special advisers as well as commissioners during national convention and congresses, so as to convey on the appointees the status of automatic delegates.

According to Section 87 (d) (8) of the harmonized version of the new electoral law titled nomination of candidates for parties, “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate at the convention or congresses of any political party for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any election.”
Section 87 (d) (9) of the same electoral law prescribes non-inclusion of the candidate concerned for the election where a breach of the provision is established.
The section said, “Where a political party fails to comply with the provisions of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidate for the election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue.”

If ministers, special advisers, commissioners and others barred as automatic delegates wish to attend the convention, they need to go and contest to win election as delegates.
This new electoral law when signed into law by the President would override the PDP constitution, which in Section 12.84 (c to i) lists automatic delegates to the national convention and state congresses of the party to include ministers, special advisers/assistants, chairmen of boards, commissioners, special advisers/ assistants to governors among others.
All members of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly of any of the political parties shall, however, enjoy the status of automatic delegates as they are elected officials.

The PDP National Chairman said the provision for automatic delegates gives unequal advantage to candidates.He said before votes are cast at all, candidates who have large numbers of automatic delegates like the President and governors are already at advantage.
One of the main complaints of the PDP Reform Forum led by former Senate President Ken Nnamani and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Bello Masari is the unequal composition of the automatic delegates, which conveys special privileges to the president, vice-president and governors during the national convention and state congresses.

The new electoral law also ousts the powers of court from stopping the conventions and congresses of the parties for the purpose of choosing their candidates.
Section 87 (d) (10) of the harmonized law states: “Nothing in this section shall empower the courts to stop the holding of primaries or general election under this act pending the determination of the suit.”

Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has urged political parties and all Nigerians to reject the attempt to use legislation to rig next year’s general elections even before the polls are conducted.

A statement by CNPP Secretary-General Chief Willy Ezugwu said the change to the order of elections, which now allows presidential election to come before the election of state governors and state legislative assembly members, would be the final master stroke to enforce a one-party state.

“There is obvious danger in the domino effect that will follow once the result of presidential election is announced. The People Democratic Party has already shown those in the opposition what it means not to be on the side of government. Once a particular political party (even if not the PDP)  wins the presidency, the most likely thing is for people to immediately queue up behind that party because no one wants to be in the opposition, especially since our federalism still runs like a unitary government.”
It said the denial by the National Assembly that the federal lawmakers were not induced to do President Jonathan’s bidding is laughable.

“Who does not know that the President is automatically the party leader in the PDP, which presently controls the National Assembly? How many of the lawmakers were bold enough to challenge the President during their meeting with him and is it not also a curious coincidence that the criminal change to the order of elections came just after the meeting?”
“The President usually sound convincing whenever he recounts how he appointed a radical Prof Attahiru Jega to head INEC but this has now shown that the only improvement being made to the electoral process is the seeming image of the Professor. Even now, the INEC chairman has made it known that we have all been on a delusion trip because there is no voter-register in place to conduct the polls,” the statement noted.

CNPP said all its earlier cries over the need to have genuine electoral reforms were ignored by the government in power and even Nigerians but that the country is now being forced to again adopt fire brigade approach in preparing for elections when it had all the time in the world to do it.

The statement said: “From the look of things, it is important that the federal lawmakers must again invoke the doctrine of necessity to shift the elections to April next year. This will allow enough time to sort the mess they created through their un-coordinated amendment of the constitution and electoral law. The National Assembly must also quickly change the Electoral Act to revert to an order that will not enslave other level of elections to the outcome of the presidential election.

“The old trick of crippling INEC by delaying funding is being applied by the present government again and this should not be allowed. A situation where the electoral commission has just days to secure N74 billion for compiling the voter register is a stark reminder that Mike Tyson, Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and the late Michael Jackson may yet be able to find their way into the register and vote in several states of the federation.”