KEY POINTS
- Independent candidacy bill gets first reading in Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
- Thus, with regard to the goals of the bill, it is an attempt to expand political activity beyond party patronage.
- People and civil societies have endorsed the bill to enhance the holding of fair and free elections.
A bill for an act to alter the Nigerian 1999 constitution to provide for independent candidacy in elections was recently read for the first time in the House of Representatives. The bill which was proposed by Representative Akintunde Rotimi of the All Progressive Congress APC, from Ekiti state, would further increase the democracy in Nigeria as it allowed independent candidacy.
The currently being proposed bill of legislation seeks to make it even a herculean task for independent presidential candidates to gather verified signatures of at least 10 percent of the total voters registered across a proportion of two-thirds states in the country. Petition signatures are required for state-level elections with 10 percent of the voters in two thirds of the state’s electoral wards.
Increasing the access to political incorporation
According to Rep. Rotimi, the bill wants to open up the political space in Nigeria meaning that all citizens will be allowed to exercise their democratic right beyond the parliamentary systems or party system of political parties in Nigeria. Some citizens cannot secure party sponsorship in one way or another. He said this bill is the hope of the people to provide aete that would allow those individuals to compete in elections.
Another goal of the bill is to also the avoid unfair process of verification in the industry. They provided that signatures must be verified by INEC and that a registered voter cannot write in support of more than one independent candidate to any category of election.
Support from advocacy groups
According to Vanguard, The bill has received support from civil society organizations such as Elect Her a Nigeria political inclusiveness advocacy group. Indeed, according to the Elect Her CEO, Joke Faborode, the bill is crucial for it seeks to address inequalities by pulling out minority groups such as women, youth and PWDs to parity.
Let no one behind was the motto used in this bill and Elect Her follows the same principle.’We urge all Nigerians to support this course since it will enhance more people’s involvement in leadership,’ Faborode said.
Following the passage of the bill good people of Nigeria want them to be able to exercise their right in election regardless of the party they belong to.
