Electoral Act amendment: CNPP says N’Assembly’s action is contempt of public opinion

Opposition parties on the platform of Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) have alerted Nigerians to disallow members of the National Assembly to get away with the “civilian coup” they plotted and are executing through the fraudulent amendment of the Electoral Act.

CNPP Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu said the federal lawmakers had demonstrated their contempt for popular opinion and disdain for the people by going ahead with the changes to the laws despite the widespread rejection of the “criminal” clauses that the lawmakers are hell-bent on smuggling into the document.
Therefore, the federal lawmakers should be prepared to face mass action if they go ahead to push through the obnoxious amendment, he warned.

Ezugwu who was speaking on the new law admitting the National Assembly members as automatic members oof their respective party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), warned that “what the federal lawmakers had done was capable of truncating the democratic process. It was also a recipe for electoral fraud in the 2011 polls beginning with the party primaries which would be inevitably fixed going by the latest round of changes being made at the National Assembly. We have been insisting on internal democracy, it is now glaring that this may not be the case if Nigerians allow Senators and House of Representatives members to have their ways by foisting this coup on the populace.”

The statement explained that the lawmakers were actually trying to rig the polls right from the stage of party primaries such that it will be possible for those with ‘election war chests’ to buy parties’ tickets before ultimately rigging the general elections while the populace looked on helplessly because the laws would have been doctored in favour of criminals.


He urged members of the National Assembly to abandon the retrogressive course of action and go back to the signed version of the 2010 Electoral Act. “After all, the lawmakers are hiding under a legitimate demand by INEC for a shift in election dates to smuggle self-serving clauses into the Electoral Law.”
He explained that the National Assembly, acting on the instructions of President Jonathan was acting out a script by inserting toxic clauses into the Act other than the request from INEC for a shift in time.

“What the present National Assembly is doing is a reminder of the dark days when the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo tried to use the Federal Lawmakers to get himself a third term in office. The said twist of legislating for individuals was playing out again as we see the desperation of Senators and House Members as they tried to change the law and ensure at all cost that President Goodluck Jonathan was able to emerge as the flagbearer of the PDP. Why else would they be amending the Electoral Law to make the cronies of the President to constitute 90 per cent of the delegates that wouldl be electing candidates?” CNPP asked.

The Secretary General further accused the lawmakers of feathering their own nests at the expense of the nation’s democracy when they inserted clauses that would make them automatic candidates in the 2011 elections. “Where then is the need for party primaries if serving incompetent lawmakers are allowed to embark on this ‘carry go’ mentality? If the Senators and House members are that desperate to remain in the chambers to continue looting the tills they should have tried their utmost best to perform in their four year term by doing what lawmakers do in decent democracies like genuinely addressing the myriad issues plaguing their constituents.

“Other changes being sought by the National Assembly equally have the potentials to drag Nigeria back to the NRC-SDP era when political parties were basically appendages of government because of over regulation. The harsh requirement set down for primaries will rob parties of the opportunity to be expressive in evolving ideologies, there are already provisions in place to address lapses from party primaries-people have the option of going to court or the electorate can reject, through their votes, any candidate they see as unacceptable. Chief Ezugwu said. 

The CNPP Scribe warned that the National Assembly should be prepared to face mass action that will be staged in conjunction with the civil society and labour if lawmakers fail to retrace their steps and return to the already signed version of the Electoral Law.