Statutory delegates will participate in party primaries next year, says Akpabio

Senate President Godswill Akpabio made this known while addressing the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja on Monday.

Akpabio described the omission of statutory delegates from party primaries in the 2022 Electoral Act as a costly mistake that must be corrected before the next round of elections.

Speaking on the need for the amendment, the lawmaker said, “There were defects in the last Electoral Act that need to be addressed. In the 2023 elections and the 2022 primaries, we inadvertently created what I may call super-delegates. Without any deliberate intention by the parliament, statutory delegates including the president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, members of parliament, and local council chairmen were excluded from the primaries”.

He underscored that this exclusion reduced the number of participants in the selection of candidates, making democracy less participatory.