2023: Jonathan Recommends Removal of Section 84 of Electoral Act

Posted by Thandiubani on Fri 27th May, 2022 - tori.ng

Jonathan made the remarks at the book launch of a former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan has called on the National Assembly to remove Section 84 from the Electoral Act.

He also urged the National Assembly to make a legislation that would criminalise the inducement of party delegates and electorate.

Jonathan made the remarks at the book launch of a former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil.

Titled “Political Party Governance,” Wakil’s launch, which attracted several dignitaries and politicians, took place in Abuja.

The former president expressed concerns that the contentious Section 84 of the Electoral Act did not consider political parties have different processes to select candidates for elections.

He noted that laws must be designed in such a way that it would solve problems, not to create more.

“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,” he said.

Jonathan also lampooned politicians for encouraging party delegates into playing monetised politics.

While saying he found the practice distasteful, the ex-president disclosed that it was disgraceful for aspirants to induce delegates to get their votes and turnaround to demand a refund after they fail to clinch the tickets.

“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.”