By Ruth Oginyi
Ebonyi State governor, and chairman, Southeast Governors Forum, Engr. David Umahi, has said direct primaries proposed by the electoral umpire is another plot to derail democracy in Nigeria.
The Governor, however, commended President Mohammadu Buhari for his refusal to sign the electoral act amendment bill into law saying “it’s not for the interest of the masses.”
Umahi spoke in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state capital on Thursday during a courtesy call by the Registrar/Chief Executive National Examination Council, (NECO), Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, at the new Government House, Centenary City, Abakaliki.
He noted that direct primaries will truncate democracy and that nobody has considered the amount of confusion and litigations it will bring because everybody that contests elections will like to go to court.
He said that Buhari did well by not signing the electoral act amended bill into law.
Recall that the bill was passed by the National Assembly on November 9th and subsequently transmitted to the president on November 19 for assent.
But President Buhari instead of signing the bill sent a letter to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) for advice.
Umahi in his words said, “Let me congratulate Mr. President for refusing to sign that electoral bill. You see, when we are making laws we have to look at all the factors. This is a country where when you are defeated in any primary you refuse to accept defeat.
“Now, imagine the number of our local governments, 774. Imagine the number of wards, you now go to conduct primaries in all these wards, maybe for the president and after that the senate and the rest of the positions. Even if you are doing all of them in one day expect petitions by the number of political parties multiplied by the number of wards.
“So, it will just truncate our democracy, there is no doubt about that. Nobody has considered the amount of confusion that will arise out of that because everybody that contests election will like to go to court.
“And if I am contesting a particular office, I have to go to court if I am not happy about the election in the number of wards in my constituency. So when will the litigation end? It is another ploy to derail democracy.
“So, I want the National Assembly to look into this litigation aspect. When the cost of these direct primaries is taken into consideration, it is going to be too much because, for every ward that the court rules out, there must be a repeat of the exercise.
“I think that we have not gotten to that level of maturity, level of having the spirit of sportsmanship, level of accepting defeat. When people know that they have been defeated, they want to see if they can technically or fraudulently manipulate the system within the judiciary.
“The issue of political primaries should be left to the political parties. This is not about APC or PDP, everybody is looking at the implication. So let us take another look at it.
“Some people say governors have hijacked the primaries, is it not the governors that are at home every time, do they not have representation in every unit? So they are at home with the people, if you are not at home with the people how will the people know you?.
“Some of you want to be governors, very soon we shall not be governors anymore but we are looking at what will bring stability to our democracy and sustain it. So the National Assembly should take a deeper look at the application so that when it will start happening they will say we foresaw this and we advised against it”.
