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The House of Representatives on Thursday set up an ad hoc committee to probe alleged violations of the Electoral Act by political parties and the Independent National Electoral Commission during last month’s primaries to pick candidates for the 2019 polls.
The House observed that the primaries exposed the lack of internal democracy within political parties, while it accused INEC of looking the other way when the abuses occurred.
Over 200 lawmakers failed to secure a return ticket during the primaries.
State governors were also criticised for allegedly manipulating the primaries in some places with the sole objective of imposing their preferred candidates on the parties.
The All Progressives Congress received much of the attacks as most of the speakers on Thursday were aggrieved members of the ruling party.
However, some opposition party members, including the Peoples Democratic Party, also complained that they were not fairly treated during the primaries.
The House, which was presided over by the Speaker, Mr Yakubu Dogara, resolved to conduct investigation into the alleged abuses after an APC member from Niger State, Mr Adamu Chika, moved a motion to draw attention to the alleged violations.
Chika also called for a probe of the income and expenditure of the “major political parties in the last four years” to bring their operations in compliance with Section 226 of the 1999 Constitution.
The lawmaker said, “If legislative measures are not adopted to address this dangerous drift, the National Assembly may, in the nearest future, be the assemblage of governors’ stooges to the detriment of our democracy.”
Speaking specifically on the case of Niger State, Chika said, “No aspirant can say he got the result of the election. You can only know it through your agent, but to say you have it is a lie.
“Somebody contested for Senate but he was given the ticket of the House of Representatives. Niger has moved from poverty to hopelessness.”
Another APC member from Kaduna State, Mr Musa Soba, recalled how “direct and indirect primaries created direct and indirect grievances” in his state.
Soba, who was the first member to dump the APC soon after primaries, also said aspirants were made to buy nomination forms at exorbitant costs when the party already had pre-determined winners.
But while Chika and Soba complained about the alleged overbearing influence of their state governors, a member from Ogun State, Mr Adekunle Akinlade, informed the House that the national leadership of the APC robbed winners in his state of victory.
Akinlade, the preferred candidate of Governor Ibikunle Amosun, narrated how the party structure ensured that the contestants who won never got the tickets.
[Punch]
