A former federal law maker, Hon.Jagaba Adams Jagaba has urged the National Assembly not to expunge 84 (12) of the Electoral Act, 2022, as requested by President Muhammadu.
Buhari had while signing the amended Electoral Act into law, asked the National Assembly to expunge section 84 (12) because it disenfranchises serving political officers.
The section reads: “No political appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate or be voted for at the convention or congress of any political party for the purpose of the nomination of candidates for any election.”
However, speaking in an interview with AmazingTimes on Tuesday in Kaduna, Jabaga, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain and aspirant for the Kaduna South Senatorial race, said deleting the section will undermine the electoral process as it will give governors undue advantage.
The three term former lawmaker said, if the section is deleted, governors in their desperate quests to install their favoured candidates,
will appoint 500 or 800 aides whenever elections are approaching.
According to him, the new Electoral Act will deepen democracy and promote credible elections, adding that litigations would also be minimised.
Jagaba said, “As far as I am concerned, the amended Electoral Act is a good development, it will ensure transparency in the electoral process.
“But the section excluding political appointees from participating in primary elections which the President is asking that it should be expunged is unacceptable.
“To me expunging that section is not proper because the governors will exploit it to their advantage.
“When elections are approaching, you will see a governor appointing 500 or 800 aides because he wants to install his candidate.
“After he gets the votes he will now sack them because he has gotten what he wanted.
Jagaba urged the lawmakers not amend section because it will create problems for democracy.
“I am calling on the National Assembly not to give in to this request because primary elections will not be credible if governors’ appointees were allow to participate in primary elections.
In the interest of transparency and democracy the National Assembly should not do the amendment.”
