President Muhammadu Buhari has said it is undemocratic for the National Assembly to insist on direct primaries as stipulated in the electoral act amendment bill.
As part of the amendments proposed by the national assembly, the bill insists on compulsory direct primaries for political parties and electronic transmission of election results
The Assembly had sent the bill to the president in September 2021 to assent to, but Buhari had rejected the bill on the grounds that the amendment may open up the electoral system to litigations.
Speaking during an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday, the president said Nigerians should be given options and allowed to decide what they want.
“No. I am not going to support it. Personally, I don’t support direct primaries because I want people to be given a choice. You can’t give them one option and think you are giving them democracy. Let’s have the three options — direct, indirect, and consensus,” the President said.
When asked if he would still sign the electoral bill if the national assembly removes the clause he does not agree with, he said: “I don’t think I told them what I don’t like. What I said was there should be options. We must not insist that it has to be direct. Yes, I will sign the bill. You can’t dictate to people and say you are doing democracy.”
