As the debate over direct primaries rage, the resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom State, Barrister Mike Igini, has warned that it might ruin the entire Electoral Act Amendment Bill just like the infamous “third term” saga ruined the good bills the lawmakers of the Fifth Assembly had promulgated at the time.
Igini likened the anxiety generated by the debate on the mode of party primaries to the third term controversy that led to throwing away the constitution amendment bill by the National Assembly in 2006.
Reporters recalls that the 5th Assembly threw out important amendments to the constitution because of an inclusion of a “third term” clause for the presidency.
The inclusion of the clause by the current National Assembly for all political parties to adopt direct primary has led to an intense contention between governors and lawmakers.
But while speaking on INEC’s position on the raging debate over the use of direct and indirect primaries by political parties, Igini said, “There’s nothing inherently so good or bad about indirect or direct primary to warrant the ongoing acrimony that may affect other profound provisions of the current bill given that this issue of direct primary is just one item in the entire one bill.
“We must avoid a repeat of the 3rd term situation whereby just one obnoxious item in a single bill truncated the entire bill. We must bear in mind that one common formula for success in any approach chosen depends on the sincerity of those who lead and manage these parties as well as those who participate in those primaries conducted by political parties.”
He added that unless political party members sincerely submit themselves to the due process they subscribe to, hopes of achieving success in whatever method of primaries they subscribe to will be futile.
“From our political experience in this country, one of the biggest political challenges has been the inability of political parties to organise primaries without squabbles. Whenever they manage to do so, it has always been seen as a remarkable achievement whereas it should be something of a routine.
“Looking beyond the problems to the solution, our take is that whatever mode that we subscribe to, political parties should do the following: a mandatory submission within a reasonable time – before any primary election certified – true copies of verifiable party register of members of each ward or delegate list for the election and certified true copies of party guidelines for same election submitted to INEC and published on the party website, as well as two newspapers displayed in all LGA offices of the party within the constituency of the election.”
He also dismissed the argument that direct primaries would cause a huge financial burden on INEC, adding that no mode of primary is cost-free.
He said the commission had always spent money to mobilise staff it deployed to monitor either direct or indirect primaries in the past.
“There is absolutely nothing new about this issue of financial burden argument. What the political parties have done in the past – because the Commission bears the burden alone – was that after giving notice to the Commission of the date, time, and venue and after the commission’s staff had all been mobilised, even some staff from the headquarters in Abuja, suddenly officials of parties will send notice to the states few hours to the time that the exercise is suspended, and sometimes it may even be a message of outright cancellation received at the venue of the scheduled primaries while mobilised INEC staff and their members are waiting for party officials that will conduct the primary.
“As a result, funds and time committed are all wasted. We are just monitors of compliance to guidelines set out by political parties to regulate their affairs; it’s not the commission that conducts the primary. Why so much noise and concerns about the cost of monitoring by INEC and a loud silence over the cost of the exercise itself by the political parties? Why are people not talking about the cost to be incurred by the political parties but INEC’s, cost of monitoring and, by implication, dragging the Commission into the arena of a subject matter that has now assumed partisan dimensions? We have been conducting elections in 119,973 polling units, deploying staff.
“And in the 2023 election, the Commission will conduct an election in a total of 176,846 polling units. So, what is this hue and cry about monitoring primary exercises in just 8,809 registration areas or wards compared to several polling units in general elections? We should simply make up our minds on what we want to do with the greatest promise and hope of democracy, which is participation, whether it should be given meaning and purpose in our practiced democracy,” he said.
