Abubakar Malami (SAN), Nigeria’s Attorney-General , says President Muhammadu Buhari, will consider the security and financial implications of direct primaries before signing the Electoral Act amendment bill into law.
Malami made this known on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme on Sunday which was monitored.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had said that the direct primary mode would swallow more public funds while a calculation done about the cost of the 2023 elections could be pushed beyond N350bn if the direct primary method is adopted.
Most governors have rejected the direct mode of primary while the National Assembly insists that it be signed into law.
Several political parties have also kicked against the direct primary, stating that it is undemocratic.
Report gathered has it that last week, the All Progressives Congress governors had started conversing with Malami with a view to convincing him to advise the President not to sign the bill.
Malami on the other has refused their counsel. He said that the President would be guided by the need for justice, legal issues, the security situation in the country and the cost.
Malami stated, “One thing I can tell you is that whatever the decision the President will eventually make arising from the amendment will be a decision that will be based on justice that will be based on the public interest, the security interest and the economic interest of the nation.
“All these things will be factored by the President on arriving at a decision on whether to assent to a bill or not and I do not see this electoral bill being different in terms of the exercise of the discretion of the President. All the necessary material factors both economic, security, judicial, legal and otherwise will naturally come in as far as the discretion of the President is concerned.”
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