Issue of direct primaries should be dropped to ensure signing of Electoral bill – Jega

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has urged stakeholders to drop the issue of the direct primaries to enable President Muhammadu Buhari sign the amended electoral bill.

Jega, who stated this at the citizens’ town hall Electoral Bill 2021 event, organised by Yiaga Africa on Sunday, advised that over-riding the President’s decision may not be a good idea.

He noted that although it would have been better to conduct direct primaries, INEC needs a law to begin preparations with.

In his words, “On direct primaries, clearly the electoral process will have better integrity if we do direct primaries appropriately.

“However, we need to interrogate this situation very well, so my suggestion is to give INEC the law to begin preparation for the 2023 elections.

“The simplest way to do that is not to override the president, but to drop the issue of direct primaries until we can ensure that parties can really hold direct primaries.

“You cannot throw the baby away with the bathwater, so let’s not because of the direct primary miss out on other good things in the law.”

He added that this needs to be done, to enable Nigeria to have a law that can be assented to so that INEC can prepare for the 2023 elections.