The Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, on Sunday dismissed claims in several quarters that state governors are opposed to the adoption of direct primaries by parties in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Sule, who stated this at a Town Hall meeting on the Electoral Bill, stated categorically that the governors are not against direct primaries.
The National Assembly passed the electoral bill on November 9, 2021 and adopted direct primaries for political parties in the country.
The lawmakers also approved the electronic transmission of results for future elections in Nigeria.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in December last year declined assent to the electoral bill over the adoption of direct primaries and other contentious issues in the document.
The governor said: “There is a total misunderstanding that the governors are against direct primaries. The governors are definitely not against direct primaries. As a matter of fact, a lot of the states chose whether to do direct or indirect.
“It is not that the state governors are against direct. All we said was that why don’t you leave the options. The Electoral Act is far more than just direct or indirect. There are so many important things there, why are we boxing ourselves with either direct or indirect?
“Give political parties the opportunity. By the time the opportunities are given, you will be shocked in the 2023 elections, a lot of the states will still do direct.”
