Electoral Act: We didn’t smuggle in controversial clauses – Jonathan

Electoral Act: We didn’t smuggle in controversial clauses – Jonathan

News Nov 14, 2010 * Extols Awolowo, Abiola, Fela, others
By Kolade Laranwaju , Abeokuta
President Goodluck Jonathan has broken his silence on the controversial Executive Bill to amend the Electoral Act rejected by the Senate, saying he did not smuggle any clause into the bill to favour his presidential bid.
“No clause was smuggled into the bill to give any advantage”, the president said yesterday.
The amendment bill to the 2010 Electoral Act, rejected by the Senate on October 20, had sought to make political appointees automatic delegates at party conventions, triggering the insinuation that he wanted to use the proposed changes in the electoral process to shore up the number of delegates in his favour at the forthcoming presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Also rejected was the proposal by the Executive to confer on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to determine sequence of elections.
Section 87 of the Electoral Act passed in August had provided that “no appointee at any level shall be a voting delegate at the convention or congress of any party for the purpose of nomination of candidates for any election”.
But the amendment proposed by the executive arm wanted the political parties to be left to determine who is qualified to be a delegate at the congress or convention.
Jonathan was believed to be hard hit by the provision as his ministers, ambassadors and members of boards of parastatals are automatically disqualified from voting, thereby denying him a chunk of votes at the PDP presidential primary.
Also, the president wanted Section 25 of the Electoral Act which stipulates that elections would be held in the following order:
Senate and House of Representatives; presidential election; and governorship/state House of Assembly election, to be amended to read, “Elections shall be held on a date or dates and in a sequence to be determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission”.
However, perhaps to secure their own re-election before deciding who to back in the presidential poll, senators decided not to touch the provision.
The president, while speaking to a cross section of Ogun State people at a town hall meeting on the second day of his three-day working visit to the state, yesterday, explained that the controversial clauses were not smuggled into the proposed but killed amendment to the Electoral Act.
Jonathan also, on Friday night, at a state banquet organised in his honour by Ogun State government paid tributes to the eminent indigenes of the state including the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the late Chief MKO Abiola, Chief Ernest Shonekan, the late Dr. Tai Solarin and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“No clause was smuggled in (to the Electoral Act) to give any advantage”, he told his audience.
Tributes to Awolowo, Tai Solarin, others
Meanwhile, the president, at the state banquet organised in his honour by Ogun State government on Friday night, singled out some eminent indigenes including Awolowo, Abiola and Tai Solarin for tributes.
“From the great thinker and visionary leaders like Chief Obafemi Awolowo; the great martyr of our struggle for democracy Chief M. K. O. Abiola; the board room guru Chief Ernest Shonekan who later became head of the Interim National Government and on to the outstanding military general and fourth Republic President our “Baba”, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Ogun has offered some of its best in the service of our fatherland”, Jonathan said.
“I want to specially salute the great individuals who stood tall and gave their all, for the progress of our country. For us who have followed politics and its use in the advancement of human civilisation, the name Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo comes readily to mind. We cannot really reward the services of our heroes especially, the Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu Bello; The Owelle of Onitsha Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and many others.
“From time to time, we must recognise their unique contributions. Awo, as we love to call this great sage, is an epitome of selfless service, a first class visionary leader whose contributions continues to inspire us. To immortalise him further, we earlier today renamed the Liberty Stadium in Ibadan, the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium Ibadan.
“But it is not only in the arena of producing political heavyweights that Ogun has showcased its capacity! In education, law, Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Science and Technology, Ogun produced the first Nobel Laureate from the African continent, Professor Wole Soyinka; the irrepressible educationist Dr. Tai Solarin; the greatest musical phenomenon to have come out of Nigeria Fela Anikulapo Kuti!”