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Following the defeat of an attempt
to alter the 2010 Electoral Act in a manner that will allow political
appointees regain their eligibility as voting delegates at the
conventions of political parties, presidency aides appear set to launch
a new tactics to woo lawmakers into re-introducing the “dead” bill.

Sources say the senate’s decision
to kill that aspect of the electoral law was received as a rude shock
by the president and his campaign team.

However, president Jonathan’s
campaign organisation has decided to start a fresh attempt to lobby the
lawmakers to re-introduce the bill.

Even though the standing rules of
both chambers of the national assembly prohibit the re-introduction of
a bill that has been rejected, Sully Abu, head of publicity for the
Goodluck Campaign Organization told NEXT they will stand their ground.

“We haven’t given up. We will go
back and negotiate and ask questions,” Mr. Abu said. “There is not
absolute victory or defeat. There is no monopoly of wisdom either in
the presidency or the national assembly. We hope that we will have a
meeting of the mind with the senate to see sense on the matter.”
Analysts, however,

believe that judging from the
unity predicated on common interest displayed by the senate in arriving
at their decision on Wednesday; the Jonathan campaign team might find
it extremely difficult to re introduce the bill.

Last Wednesday, the senate acted
in a largely unified manner to shut down Mr Jonathan’s attempt to
reshape the 2010 Electoral Act. Their action was devoid of the usual
political or ethnic sentiments that usually colour similar debates.

“It was obvious their actions were premeditated,” Fred Idowu, an independent political analyst said.

“They were determined to “kill the
bill” and perhaps send a message to the presidency. The senators were
convinced the bill is toxic to the current electoral act and self
serving – to the president – judging from the changes the bill proposed
to bring.” The bill proposed three major amendments to the current 2010
electoral act. It sought to give the leadership of Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to determine the sequence in
which elections are held; it also wanted political parties to adopt the
system of indirect primaries – the type of primaries usually adopted by
PDP – for the choice of its candidates.

What the amendment meant to do is
to allow political parties to change at will the rules governing
procedures for primaries by issuing new guidelines, rather than relying
on the provisions of the current 2010 Electoral Act.

The bill proposed that Section
87(8) of the Electoral Act 2010 should be deleted. That section
provides that no political appointee at any level shall be a voting
delegate at the convention or congress of any political party for the
purpose of nomination of candidates for any elections.

Section 87(8) is viewed as
revolutionary because it prevents the president and governors from
flooding political party congresses with ministers, special advisers,
commissioners and other political appointees who would vote to choose
their boss or the candidate of their boss’ choice.

While the civil society and the
opposition – both within and outside the PDP – described the action of
the senate as patriotic, Mr. Abu said the setback at the senate has
sharpened their resolve to move on stronger.

Loyal appointees

The President’s campaign team
greatly rely on the votes of the various political appointees serving
in this administration to push their principal through in the primaries
of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Before President Jonathan made up his mind to run for the presidency in the forthcoming elections,

there were 1027 splinter campaign organizations sponsored by political appointees within the government.

During the presidential
declaration which took place mid September, an official at the
presidential villa said that the level of sponsorship the president
received from his appointees was up to 95 per cent.

Attendees at the declaration were
also seen clad in uniformed dresses bearing their support for the
president and which political appointee was sponsoring them.

NEXT also gathered that the
lawmakers, in the closed meetings, had considered this impassioned
support from his staff before arriving at the decision not to allow
voting by personal aides; bearing in mind it will give the president an
unfair edge over the other contestants.

Goodluck Campaign Organization, however, disagrees with that all appointees are rooting for the president.

“The fact that they are appointees does not make it compulsory that
they will vote for the president. After all, you will not have a gun to
their heads that they must vote for him,” Mr. Abu argued. “These are
people that were carefully chosen across various areas of the country,
so they represent the different sections of the country so they have
legitimate political interest and representation.”