•Lukman
By Omeiza Ajayi
Director-General, Progressive Governors’ Forum PGF, Salihu Moh. Lukman has weighed in on the debate surrounding the rejection of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari, urging the National Assembly to rework contentious clauses in the bill and forward same to the president for his assent.
Lukman gave the charge Wednesday in Abuja at the unveiling of his new book, “APC and Campaign for New Nigeria”.
The president had on Tuesday rejected the bill, saying the imposition of direct primary on political parties was dangerous to the polity.
At the book launch, however, Lukman said; “I am not opposed to direct primary, but there are some conditions which must be met for direct primary to be able to provide the democratic platform that will confirm the voice of individual members of the party.
“Some of those conditions include the fact that the membership of the political party must be very clear; it should not be in dispute. In APC, we are very clear in terms of ensuring that we prioritize the question of developing the membership database of our party. That was why we went through the process of membership registration and revalidation.
“The next stage will be the question of internet provision within the party to ensure that every member of the party is aware of the records of members without any dispute.
“The whole debate about direct or indirect primary is basically an APC issue. To that extent, my position is to appeal to the leadership of the National Assembly to provide the necessary leadership so that we don’t muddle up issues.
“My argument is that the original bill which went for public hearing did not include all those provisions. It was out of the momentary anger I think, against governors following the management of the Congresses that led to the situation whereby National Assembly NASS members felt compelled to amend the law and include direct primaries.
“The issues that are necessary in the Electoral Act which are not contentious are issues of electronic transmission of results and all the other issues.
“I think they should work it and submit it to Mr. President for assent. The other issues of direct primaries should go through the normal legislative process and if it is passed, so be it, so that we don’t throw the baby away with the bath water”.
Lukman said the message in the book is basically an appeal to APC leaders to prioritize internal negotiations.
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“Democracy is about negotiations. Our leaders have demonstrated very good capacity to make sacrifices and that is how the party even came about.
“I think at this point, it is important that our leaders embrace negotiations. It is just about ensuring that meetings take place and decisions taken are respected. It is the capacity of organs of the party to meet that provides a platform for negotiations.
“Another point which is there in the book is an appeal to party leaders again to prioritize the issue of relationship because the major challenge of politics in this country today is poor management of relationship among party leaders.
“This is creating a lot of internal crisis and I believe that as we move towards the convention, we should resume meetings of statutory organs of the party because that will help a number of issues whether it is that of congresses or any other disagreement. One meeting can settle everything.
“Our leaders should be able to convene a meeting, possibly, a meeting of National Caucus or National Executive Committee NEC before the convention, on the basis of which we can begin to resume the process of reorganizing ourselves and facing the challenge of providing leadership to this country as we move to 2023”, he added
Vanguard News Nigeria
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