2023: INEC to bar statutory delegates if Buhari fails to sign amended Act

By Anita Godfrey

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC might stop all statutory delegates of various political parties from voting at party primaries billed to commence soon if president Muhammadu Buhari failed to sign the amended electoral bill in the country.

It would be recalled that president Buhari step down the signing of the amended law of the electoral act section 84 (8) seeking to include statutory delegates while he assented to other bills before traveling out of the country yesterday.

However, the National Assembly interpreted statutory delegates to be that of the President, Governors, national assembly members, state assembly members, local government chairman and the councilors (past and present).

The INEC had also told political parties that except the president signs the new amended clause of the electoral law, it would not allow statutory delegates to participate in any of the party primaries in the country.

Meanwhile, there are situations that the president intentionally step down the signing of the amended law to void the statutory delegates from participating in the electoral process.