The 2022 Electoral Act will be amended to include statutory delegates in political party primaries in 2026, ahead of the 2027 general elections, Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said.
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Akpabio made this disclosure in Abuja on Monday during a meeting with the national leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
According to Akpabio, the omission of statutory delegates from political party primaries in the 2022 Electoral Act was a costly mistake that must be corrected before the next general elections.
He stated:
“There were defects in the last Electoral Act that was amended, so we want to address some of the flaws in our electoral system, and I can point out one.
“Without any deliberate intention by the parliament, in the 2023 elections and 2022 primaries, we inadvertently created what I may call super delegates.
“This is because all statutory delegates—starting from the **President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Members of Parliament (national and sub-national), Chairmen of Councils, and others—**were omitted as delegates.
“These are areas we need to review to make our democracy more inclusive because democracy is all about numbers.
“At the national level, when selecting the President, we had only 2,380 delegates, whereas 3,000 statutory delegates from various local government areas were omitted.
“From the amendment, it meant that unless you contested to be an ad hoc delegate, you were not eligible to participate in the primaries to select flag bearers for legislative houses, governorship elections, and presidential conventions in all political parties nationwide.
“We shall also review the powers given to INEC because, at the time, it seemed as though INEC was the final arbiter in determining who is a candidate, rather than the political parties.
“As it stands, we have to rely on INEC to decide whether to accept a candidate’s name or not. However, I strongly believe that political parties should have the power to select candidates who best represent their manifesto, possess integrity, and have a proven track record of delivering democratic dividends to the people.
“These are some of the areas we are considering in the amendment of the Electoral Act.”
Akpabio also urged the NBA leadership to weed out quacks from the legal profession, stating that some senior members of the bar had never been properly called to the bar.
Earlier in his remarks, the National President of the NBA, Mr. Afam Osigwe (SAN), urged the National Assembly to implement reforms in the country’s justice delivery sector.
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