The Independent National Electoral Commission has told the House of Representatives that it has a little role to play in the conduct of direct primaries as political parties have more roles to play in the selection of their candidates for elective offices.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara, made this known after a closed-door meeting with Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, in Abuja on Thursday.
The meeting was called based on the resolution by the House on December 2, 2021, that Yakubu be invited to come forward and make it known to the parliament what it would cost the country to conduct direct primaries for all parties and elective positions.
The House, which introduced the restriction in the amendment bill, had said it was ready to allocate funds to INEC to supervise direct primaries, but the parties must adopt the mode in the selection of candidates for the2023 general elections.
The meeting was to know how the House could make the provision in the 2022 Appropriation Bill, which is under consideration by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly had recently passed the Electoral Act 2020 (Amendment) Bill, which deleted the indirect (delegates) option and restricted parties to direct primary, among other provisions.
The bill, which has been transmitted to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is awaiting assent.
Buhari wrote to the Chairman of INEC to seek the commission’s advice and Yakubu had replied to the President.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, had repeatedly stated that Buhari would consider economic and security factors as well as the general interest of Nigerians before signing or withdrawing assent to the bill.
Emerging from the closed-door meeting that lasted less than one hour, Yakubu refused to give straight answers to questions posed to him by journalists.
When asked what would be the cost of supervising direct primaries for the parties, Yakubu said, “INEC did not come up with any cost for the conduct of primaries per political party by the direct method. We have had very good discussions with the committees on Appropriations of the National Assembly, pursuant to the resolution of the House. And what we discussed, you will not hear from me; maybe the chairman of the committee will tell you.”
On the cost of conducting the 2023 general elections, the INEC chairman said, “Once the budget is finalised, you will hear (about it).”
Answering another question on the cost of direct primaries compared to indirect, he said, “This one I discussed with the committee. The committee may wish to tell you. But we discussed it with the committee.”
When asked about his reply to Buhari, Yakubu said, “A letter was submitted to the President. I can’t divulge what I told the President.”
However, the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations disclosed some of the discussions at the meeting.
Betara said, “Our discussion with the INEC Chairman was on two issues; first, his requirements for the 2023 elections and second, direct and indirect primaries.”
He added, “On the primaries, when we discussed with him, he specifically told us that the role of INEC in direct or indirect primaries is just minimal…everything lies with the political parties. Party primaries are responsibilities of political parties and not INEC.”
When asked if the House was willing to fund direct primaries at any cost, Betara said, “For direct primaries, what the INEC chairman told us is that only the political parties have the responsibility for primaries. Funding of primaries is for political parties, not INEC.”
Both Yabubu and Betara also denied knowledge of Buhari’s alleged withdrawal of assent to the bill as reported by a section of the media (not The PUNCH).
“We don’t know whether he rejected or he signed the bill,” Betara stated.
“I am hearing (about) it for the first time,” Yakubu added.
