Date Published: 12/13/10
Electoral Act Amendment rips PDP, Puts Jonathan in a Quandary…As NASS and PDP Governors fight dirty
The fight over membership of the National Executive Committee (NEC), of the People Democratic Party(PDP), is threatening to rip apart the party just as the Northern Governors Forum today in Abuja insisted that they would do all they could to stop members of the National Assembly from becoming NEC members.
The fight has thrown the Presidency into confusion, as President Goodluck Jonathan seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place. His camp needs both blocs (NASS and PDP Governors Forum), to grab the ticket at the primaries. Said our source” the President is kind of confused because he is caught between the two blocs..he needs both group to actualize his ambition, but if he allows the NASS to take over the powerful NEC, the Governors Forum, and even some members of the current NEC may want to purnish him”
The Governors are piqued that the move to amend the Act would reverse the order of the primaries as first proposed by putting the presidential primary ahead of that of governors. Party officials and members of the Governors Forum met at two different levels today in Abuja on the issue. The Governors are especially not happy that their capacity to influence policy in the party would be largely removed under the proposals which will leave them as a minority in the decision making NEC as the legislators would now have the superior say.
It was learnt that the promise by the party’s chairman, Okwesileze Nwodo to ensure a huge slice of the party’s members in the National Assembly are returned was meant to placate the legislators and make them soft pedal on the Electoral Act, and also support the candidature of Jonathan. The deal also includes a reverse time table for primaries which will put the NASS primaries first. According to Nwodo “So, in doing that, I think the next thing I am going to push for is that in returning as many parliamentarians as possible. And those who are there, who are women, we could, at least, guarantee their seats.’’
Pointblanknews.com sources in Abuja disclosed that the Governors who were silent on the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan despite the zoning arrangement, condemned the move by the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act.
The House last Thursday amended the Act, with the Senate likely to follow suit this week. If it becomes law the PDP lawmakers will practically take over the NEC spreading fear among the Governors, National Executive Committee(NEC), National Working Committee (NWC), and the Board of Trustees(BOT). As it stands, the PDP has 92 senators and 262 members. They have paved the way for total control of the NEC by virtue of section 12 (c), and 12 (d) which requires quorum for meeting to be half of total membership, and that decisions on all electoral matters requires two third of its quorum.
The PDP Governors Forum was backed today by the 19 Northern Governors. The PDP Governors had threatened to ‘ take all necessary measures” to ensure the NASS was stopped. According to our source” The Governors are insisting, they condemned the move describing it as selfish, self serving and a threat to democracy. But the Governors interest is not sacrosanct, and insisting that they would not allow it, could fall flat because even if President Jonathan vetoes it they could still override his veto and attend the NEC meetings”
According to our source “they could try to lobby the President to prevail on the Senate to dump the idea, but the position of the senate President (David Mark), has not helped matters. Mark had said the senate would not succumb to blackmail but superior arguments. He also said the National Assembly would fight any attempt by a small group to control the party”
The PDP Governors had said in statement “It is also of extreme importance to realize that coming so close to the handover date of May 2011, the nation can ill afford the luxury of an extensive debate of any amendment to the electoral act at this stage, without casting doubts to the commitment to a free and fair election. Finally, we have resolved to take all necessary measures to save our democracy and the country from the imminent danger of this action”
Mark had countered “ the National Assembly would only bow to superior arguments, the desire was to have a robust National Executive Committee (NEC) of political parties``We don’t want a situation where a handful of people would control the parties. The bill is not an extra-ordinary bill and it is not self-serving. `In some political parties, once you are a member of the National Assembly, you are an automatic member of your party’s NEC,’’
The controversial section as amended says “Section 87 (4) of the Principal (2010 Electoral) Act is amended by inserting immediately after sub-section (4) (11), the following new subsections: “(12) (a) Every political party shall establish in its constitution, a National Executive Committee which shall be the highest decision making body of a political party. (b) The membership of the NEC of a party shall be as follows: (i) the President and former Presidents, who are members of the party; (ii) the vice-president and former vice-presidents, who are members of the party; (iii) governors who are members of the party; (iv) members of the National Assembly, who are members of the party; (vi) chairman and secretary of the board of trustees, where applicable; (vii) former national chairmen; (viii) former chairmen, board of trustees; (ix) state chairmen of the party; (x) zonal chairmen of the party where applicable; and (xi) national officers of the party.” Sub-section 12 (c) in particular, requires that the “quorum for meeting of the NEC of a political party shall be one-half (1/2) of its total membership, while 12 (d) stipulates that “all NEC decisions on electoral matters require two-thirds (2/3) of its quorum.”
The NEC meeting which comes up tomorrow in Abuja, is expected to back the position of Nwodo who has also described the move by NASS as self serving.
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