By John Ikani
Former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has described ongoing primaries conducted by political parties across the country as messy.
Speaking at a book launch titled, “Political Party Governance” authored by Dr. Mohammed Wakil, a former Minister of State for Power, Jonathan expressed worries over widespread allegations of delegates’ inducement.
Local media have been awash with reports of how aspirants inducing delegates with money to vote for them in order to clinch tickets for elective position in 2023 general elections.
There have also been reports of aspirants demanding a refund from delegates who collected their money but failed to vote for them.
Reacting to the ugly trend, Jonathan said: “These whole primaries going on across the country is a mess. This is not a standard practice. The process has failed.
“We cannot use the process to elect president, governors, senators and House of Representatives members and others.
“The process is already failed, which is not good for the country. But we will manage and move on.
“We pray that good people should come. I hope that what happened this year, 2022 will not happen again in this country,” he said.
He went on to call on the National Assembly to make laws to criminalise the inducement of delegates and the electorate.
Jonathan also urged lawmakers to expunge from the Electoral Act, the sections that state how political parties should select candidates for elections.
According to him: “The National Assembly can’t make laws and lock all political parties together. Parties have different ways of nominating candidates and the process is enshrined in their constitutions.
“Creating a situation where all parties must have the same way of selecting candidates is nonsense. Parties are not parastatals of government.
“The National Assembly can’t make laws to strangulate political parties. Section 84 should be expunged from the Electoral Act.”
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