Having begun handpicking the delegates who will elect the presidential candidate of the APC, governors on the platform of the party are now lobbying Buhari not to sign the recently amended Electoral Act Amendment Bill, Saturday PUNCH has learnt.
The National Assembly had last week amended Section 84(cool of the Electoral Act to allow statutory delegates to vote at party primaries.
The statutory delegates include the President, Vice-President, serving and former members of the National Assembly; serving and former governors and deputy governors; members of the National Working Committee and state party chairmen and secretaries of political parties.
The President’s delay in signing the amended Act means that as the law stands, only non-statutory delegates will be allowed to vote, except if the APC opts for the direct primary method or outright consensus.
According to the APC guidelines, the statutory delegates are to be elected from each of the 774 local government areas. Each local government is expected to produce three delegates, bringing the number to a total of 2,322 delegates.
Saturday PUNCH, however, learnt that across the states, no real congress was taking place. Rather, the governors are only drawing up so-called unity lists, while in states that the APC has no governors, the faction loyal to the most senior minister or senator will select the delegates and submit the names to the national leadership of the APC.
A member of the National Assembly, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “The governors will now be fully in charge. Even the President does not have a single delegate. The 2,322 delegates who emerge from the congresses will just be anointed by the governors and they will be the ones to determine the next presidential candidate of the party.
The National Assembly member explained, “As things stand, over 1,000 statutory delegates will not be allowed to vote at the primary, including the 373 members of the National Assembly, who are members of the APC, except Buhari assents the bill. This has given the governors too much power.
“They are now lobbying the President not to sign the Electoral Act, because this is the only way their excesses can be neutralised. Some of Buhari’s ministers, who blame the National Assembly for their failed ambitions, are also pushing the President not to sign it. The only thing that can change the calculation is if the party opts for direct primary.”
The President is currently in the United Arab Emirates and is expected to return today (Saturday).
Attempts to get a response from the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, proved abortive as he neither responded to calls nor a text message on Friday.
However, a Presidency source said Buhari was also angry with the National Assembly for double-crossing him last February.
The President had while signing the Electoral Act in February called on the National Assembly to expunge Section 84(12), which bars all government appointees from taking part in any party primary.
Buhari subsequently sent a request to the National Assembly to that effect. However, the Senate rejected the President’s request, while the House of Representatives did not consider it. Also, after a Federal High Court ruled that the section in question was illegal, the National Assembly appealed the judgment, insisting that ministers, commissioners and aides should not be allowed to contest elective offices unless they first resign.
“The National Assembly double-crossed the President in February. This is why it cannot confidently lobby him for help now. Politics is give and take. Buhari may be magnanimous enough to amend the law now, but the National Assembly has no right to make any demands. Besides, the National Assembly should have amended Section 84(12) as a show of good faith,” a Presidency source stated.
