Electoral Reforms: Lamido accuses Senate of dictatorship

By Musa Baba Adamu

Former Jigawa State Governor and one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sule Lamido, has accused the National Assembly of plotting to undermine the political parties’ sovereignty through the ongoing controversial electoral reforms.

In a statement he issued to journàlists in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, Lamido described the federal legislature, especially the Senate’s role as undemocratic.

The former governor said the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, which is controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers, was out to impose direct primary election on political parties with the sole aim of destroying the country’s plural democratic system.

He said under the Nigerian and political parties’ constitutions, each party has the liberty to choose its mechanism for conducting and administering its internal affairs, but lamented that the APC senators had hijacked and assumed the roles of sole administrators of the political parties.

According to the PDP chieftain, “While the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the safeguard of our plural democracy, the same constitution inherently guarantees the parties to regulate the conduct of their affairs and mandates the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to oversee compliance of their (parties) Constitution, a copy of which is deposited with the electoral body.

“It is true that there was a time in our political evolution when we had parties headed by late Air Marshal Alfa as the Sole Administrator of SDP and NRC! But that was when the political parties were invented and owned by the Government with full compliments of offices from the National, States and Local Govt, office furniture, motor vehicles, motor cycles, full funding of all the Parties activities including transportation and accommodation during congresses and conventions,” he said.

He asked if APC senators imposed such rules, whether they are going to fund the political parties as the military did during the defunct NRC and SDP political parties.

Lamido charged PDP and Nigerians to stand up and resist any attempt by the APC dominated Senate to reverse Nigeria’s democracy to military era in their bid to achieve parochial interest as against collective national interest.