It is no longer news that more than half of federal lawmakers lost their bids to secure return tickets to the National Assembly in next year’s elections.
But what could probably be newsy is that the affected lawmakers are dumping the entire blame for their misfortune squarely at the doorsteps of the governors of their states. The governors had their in the drawing up of the delegates’ list during the adhoc delegates’ congress of their parties. The legislators had sensed such development and had inserted only a direct mode of primary in the amendment to the Electoral Act which President Muhammadu Buhari rejected as undemocratic.
With the major parties, APC and PDP adopting indirect primary mode, the lawmakers probably knew they were on their way to Golgotha as far as securing return ticket was concerned. True to their premonition, the governors had their way.
The apprehension among lawmakers in the ninth National Assembly over the enormous powers at the disposal of executive governors of the 36 States of the federation influenced the muscle flexing that attended the process of amending the 2022 Electoral Act.
The just-concluded primary elections across political parties, especially APC and the PDP have further shown that governors own delegates. And it seems there is no hope in sight to have true democratic choice of legislators without the influences of governors.
At the resumption of plenary two weeks ago, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila went into a long jeremiad where he bemoaned the manner his colleagues were shut out of the primary processes in their states.
The development has set new thinking in motion among the legislators across political divides to action a plan to close ranks and wrestle democracy from hands of governors by revisiting the amendment of the Electoral Act 2022 and placing the governors where they should be in any electoral process.
What is currently on the ground is to ensure that only direct primary is prescribed for all political parties while the issue of independent candidacy, which is already included in the ongoing amendment of the 1999 Construction review will be given priority.
The aggrieved lawmakers also vowed that if the Buhari refuses to endorse the fresh amendments being mooted, they will not hesitate to override him and free the political space.
After Buhari declined assent to the earlier amendment, the lawmakers recoiled and inserted indirect and consensus modes in the Electoral Act.
The lawmakers, however, inserted Section 84(12) in the Act to reduce the influence of the executive during primary elections and party conventions.
The section provides thus: “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.” This was also the subject of controversy after President Buhari had asserted the electoral act 2022.
The president specifically asked the lawmakers to expunge the section outright, which they refused till it became a subject of litigation.
Also, the lawmakers in what seemed like oversight left out the provision for statutory delegates to participate in the primary elections, only to realise they had shut the doors against their own participation. Then they began to struggle to correct the error in a fresh amendment to include statutory delegates. But it was too late.
After declining the request by the president to expunge Section 84(12), the lawmakers discovered their error, which shut out statutory delegates including the president, vice president, governors and their deputies, former and current members of the National Assembly as well as state and national officers of the party from voting as automatic delegates.
The parliament immediately reconvened and passed the amendment bill in one day, however, President Buhari also refused to assent to the bill.
As the primaries are over, the lawmakers would have discovered that it was foolhardy on their part to battle for control of delegates with governors, who still hold the aces as leaders of their parties at the state levels, hence they play the piper and dictate the tune. After all, many lawmakers got elected because their governors wanted them at the time.
So far, more than 70 per cent of the 469 members of the National Assembly will not return, if the outcome of the primaries of parties is anything to go by, not to talk about the general election that promises to throw up more surprises.
Even at the national level, Ahmad Lawan who chairs the National Assembly picked the APC presidential nomination forms to contest for president in 2023, after some individuals in Aso Rock had persuaded and assured him of the ticket. He fell victim to the governors’ power play and influence.
The national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu had announced the Senate President’s name Ahmad Lawan as the consensus presidential candidate, but 11 Northern governors stood against him that it was the turn of the South to produce the next president.
With the outcome of the primaries, the 10th National Assembly is going to be dominated by fresh legislators, which could have the adverse effect of lack of institutional memory, which is supposed to aid legislative process.
However, some lawmakers made it to the primary stage. Some senators, of their own volition, decided not to pick forms to return. Some decided to go for the presidency or governorship.
Senator representing Enugu North on the platform of PDP, Chukwuma Utazi at a Policy Dialogue, on “Constituency projects in the 2023 electioneering campaigns,” organised by OrderPaper in partnership with Budget and MacArthur Foundation in Abuja, spoke his mind on the matter saying, he was not returning to the National Assembly as he did not go for the primary.
“Does it mean I don’t want to come back to the parliament? The answer is no. What is on the ground cannot permit me to return. I can’t return because my governor wants to be here so I have to go.
“That is just the issue. Am I done with this place? No. You know the longer you stay in the parliament the more experienced you get because you will develop institutional memory.
“You will use that institutional memory to help and better the lots of your people but in our clime, it is a status symbol. People want to answer the name senator, everybody wants to be here. So to be a senator is an important position.”
When asked about the solution since the governors are still in charge, he said, “The solution is for Nigeria to come to a point where the major traditional political parties will no longer be the issue. I have been a major proponent of independent candidacy.
“That is the only way we can have a semblance of democracy, but once you have these two traditional parties, APC and PDP putting people there, it becomes very difficult.
Also another lawmaker and Senator representing Kogi West in the Senate, Smart Adeyemi, noted that the recent party primaries have unearthed irregularities in the Electoral Act 2022
Senator Adeyemi stated this while briefing newsmen at the National Assembly complex in Abuja on how he lost the return ticket to the Senate. He said the irregularities in the Electoral Act were so much that the document needs urgent amendment even before the 2023 elections. He also blamed his governor for his failure at the primary.
Consequently, when lawmakers resumed their recess after parties primary , it was lamentation galore from the Senate President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila.
The two principal officers bemoaned lawmakers’ loss of return tickets, even as they faulted the nation’s electoral system. Unfortunately, they had enough time to make necessary amendments, but they were in blind pursuit of governors.
Speaking during the resumption of legislative business, which was suspended to allow lawmakers to fight the battle for return tickets ahead of the 2023 general elections, Gbajabiamila blamed the delegates system for the rejection of his colleagues in the recent primaries held across the country.
“It is rather unfortunate that the process went the way it went. I make bold to say that the legislature has, once again, suffered losses. The loss really is not for members who lost; it is a loss to democracy, the institution and to the country.
“If it means anything, I know and I am aware that many of our members did not lose their primaries because they were rejected by their constituents. Many of our members lost because of the process, which we foresaw in the House of Representatives – the delegates system, which, unfortunately, is not what a delegates system is supposed to be.”
He added: “Many of our members lost because they were not even given a fair shot. We have good legislators, both here in the chambers and back home, who are probably not coming back because of this same process.
“When we fought for direct primaries in this House, we knew exactly what we were saying. It pains me very deeply that the process has gone the way it has. We will continue to push and continue to fight for our members, for democracy, for the institution and this country.”
Lawan on his part admitted the electoral process threw up new issues that may need to be addressed by the parliament. He gave assurance that the National Assembly would look at the issues, with a view to addressing them and making the electoral process better.
According to him, “the Electoral Act itself, even though a good document, is not a perfect one. So, it needs some refinement from time to time to improve our electoral process.” He expressed sympathy for colleagues that lost out at primaries, even as he congratulated winners.
By now, National Assembly members should have known better not to go into a chase of delegates with governors. The main issue at stake is the enormous power and resources at the disposal of the governors to do and undo.
What is needed urgently as expressed by some lawmakers is to amend the Electoral Act and bring out the grey areas at least for benefit of the nation’s democracy and for the legislature to have a sound footing.
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