—Backs Buhari for withholding assent
—Urges NASS to expunge direct primaries
–Insists elected officers that defect to other parties must vacate their seats

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

THE Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Monday, expressed support for President Muhammadu Buhari’s withholding of his assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, saying that Nigeria was not yet ready for direct primary model.

IPAC also advised the National Assembly to immediately expunge the contentious direct primary clause of electing party candidates for election and and transmit the amended version to the President for his assent.

Briefing journalists in Abuja on Monday, the National Chairman of IPAC, Engr. Yabagi Yusuf Sani, warned the National Assembly not to allow the issue of direct primaries to affect other important provisions in the bill especially the electronic transmission of results, which it said would strengthen the electoral process.

Engr. Sani in a prepared text he read also frowned at the differences between the executive and the legislature on the just signed 2022 Appropriations Bill into law.

He said, “On the ongoing stalemate or, standoff between the Legislature and the Executive over the 2021 Electoral Act Amendment Bill, IPAC will want to be counted as among those that are impressed with the National Assembly for the courage, high level of commitment and patriotism exhibited in the passage of a Bill that has been widely applauded as groundbreaking and transformative in the annals of the nation’s legislative chambers.

“For once, we saw our representatives disregarding partisan differences in favour of superior national interest. We saw our lawmakers stood up in a spirited battle in the course of democracy even in the face of intimidation and blackmail.

“We have noted that the only expressed grouse of the President on the basis of which he held back his assent, is the provision in the Bill for a mandatory use of Direct Primary election in the selection of flag bearers of all the political parties.

“While many may not concede to the explanations of security challenges with the other reasons given by the President, it will be difficult however, to disagree with him on the reason of complex logistics and huge financial burden that direct primary elections will imply for the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“Many have canvassed the view that no amount of money should be considered too high in the efforts to sanitize the nation’s electoral process and that the Legislature should therefore, invoke its veto powers to overrule the President.

“To us in IPAC, such an action may be tantamount to a wholesale wrecking of the boat. We are of the view that, much as we may cherish its perceived benefits, the country, at this stage of the progress of its democracy, does not appear to be sufficiently ripe and prepared for the direct primary election model in the selection of political party flag bearers.

“Also, against the backdrop of the President’s decisive aversion to this particular provision of the Electoral Bill, the use of veto by the legislature may merely result in a fruitless exercise if at the end of the day, its implementation is not supported by the required funding by the Executive.

“In summary, if we must call a spade by its name, we in the IPAC are inclined to the opinions that regard the National Assembly’s position on Indirect Primaries as amounting to an attempt to usurp the constitutional rights of parties as to the method of choice of party flag bearers.

“The National Assembly members may have acted as interlopers by trying to run political parties from the hallowed chambers because, objectively in the context of international practices Primary Elections cannot be legislated upon, and are best left to the discretion of the political parties.

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“We believe and wish to accordingly admonish that as elected officials, the National Assembly and executive arms should be rather more concerned about ensuring the integrity of the electoral process and how to reduce the costs of democratic practices and make our democracy more resilient.

“The way out of the logjam in our view in the IPAC, is for the shifting of grounds by the legislature and the executive arms of government for a compromise and amicable resolution resulting in a win win scenario. This should not be a difficult task given that the two arms are, incidentally, controlled by the same political party, the APC.

“The IPAC is accordingly, recommending that the Legislature should accede to the expunging of the clauses regarding Direct Primary election thereby saving the other equally important provisions among which, is the one on the mandatory electronic transmission of election results by INEC. By that, we believe that President Muhammadu Buhari should have no further reason to withhold his assent.

“To avoid further pitfalls in the remodeling and implementation of this law, we suggest that the Legislature and the Executive should consider carrying IPAC along. This is in view of the fact that the Bill directly affects our members, the political parties, who will implement the law when eventually enacted. He who wears the shoes knows where it pinches.”

On the alleged incessant assault on the nation’s constitution by way of unconscionable defections of elected officials from one party to another, the IPAC National Executive Committee called on the Legislature and the Judiciary to urgently come together to save democracy in Nigeria by putting a stop to the ugly trend.

“This is based on our considered view that, it is utterly illegal for an elected official who was elected on the platform and manifesto of one political party to abandon such a party while in office, without the constitutional conditions precedent to do so,” he said.

Continuing, Sani said, “In our view, the practice is at once, the height of a repulsive show of political adventurism, immoral, a rascally display of impunity, a shameless disregard for the constitution and an audacious rape of the mandate of the electorate.

“In taking its position, the IPAC would want to draw attention to the constitutional provision which stipulates that elected officials can only legally jump boat, that is, change from one party to another while in office if and only if, a clear case of divisions or fictionalization is perceived to exist in the party on whose platform he or she rode to the office in the first instance.

“To the best of our knowledge, most incidents of defections especially in the recent times, have occurred without the obvious existence of such situations. Furthermore, IPAC wishes to point to the fact that frivolous and willful “cross carpeting” only exists in a parliamentary democracy and not in a presidential system of democracy that is extant in Nigeria.

“It is our view that any elected official who feels that he or she has reasons to change his political party, our advice in IPAC is that such officials should resign and seek a fresh mandate from the electorates on the platform of his new political party.”

On the just signed 2022 Budget, Sani said, “we at IPAC are also worried about the general show of insufficient coordination and alignment of aspirations of the two arms of government which have been under the control of the APC since 2015.

“The latest incident that has awakened our apprehension about the level of interface and synergy between the Presidency and the Parliament was the crises over the 2022 budget which in the perception of keen observers was recently assented to, in protest, by the President.

“At this point that 9th National Assembly and the Presidency of Muhammadu Buhari are practically getting to the threshold of their point of exit, it would have been in the best interest of Nigerians and in the best interest of the APC that all hands must be on deck in steering the ship of the nation.”