Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, says President Muhammadu
Buhari’s request for the national assembly to remove clause 84(12) of the
electoral act is “selfish”.
Following his approval of the electoral bill on Friday,
Buhari asked the national assembly to expunge section 84(12) because it
disenfranchises serving political appointees.
The section in contention 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.”
Speaking on the development, Wike alleged that the president is also trying to protect his appointees, adding that Buhari’s position doesn’t promote free and fair elections.
“Mr President has
told the world he is trying to protect some of his appointees who want to run
election, and who are afraid of leaving office knowing fully well that having
left the office, it would be difficult for them to assert or to influence the
outcome of party primaries,” Wike said, according to a statement by Kelvin
Ebiri, his spokesman.
“If Mr President really believes in free, fair and
transparent election, and for everybody to have a level playing ground, Mr
President will not call for such amendment.
“Mr President knows the function of the legislature is to
make laws. The function of the executive is to implement the law, and the
function of the judiciary is to interpret the law.
“Now Mr. President is not only doing the work of the executive,
he has also delved into the work of the judiciary of interpreting the law,
knowing where there is conflict.
“I wonder why Mr President didn’t know when he appended his
signature to the Police Trust Fund; that was in conflict with the provision of
the constitution.”
The governor also said the provisions of the act,
particularly the electronic transmission of results, will boost the confidence
of Nigerians in their elected representatives.
“For whatever it is worth, let us say Nigerians are happy that
after all said and done, the president and the APC administration, for the
first time, have bowed to pressure of Nigerians in order to have a law that
enables our electoral process to be transparent. But again, this tells you the
kind of party in power,” he said.
“Electronic
transmission of results will give confidence to the people, to the electorate;
and anybody who is elected will now sit up to say it is not going to be
business as usual.”
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