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It caught many Nigerians by surprise: what one of this paper’s columnists rightly called “Jonathan’s subversive loophole.” Following the request from the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the 2011 general elections from January to April 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan sent an Executive Bill to the National Assembly proposing those amendments to the Electoral Act 2010.

But beyond the amendments, the president added his own changes – particularly those relating to Section 87(7) and (8) of the Electoral Act. And these provisions were dangerous, even fatal, to the conduct of credible elections.

Section 87(7) proposed that “A political party that adopts the system of indirect primaries for the choice of its candidates shall outline in its constitution or guideline:

Who shall be a delegate at the congress or convention”. In essence, that provision would allow parties change at will the rules governing procedures for primaries simply by issuing a new guideline.

This meant, in effect, that the procedures set out in the current 2010 Electoral Act imposing clear conditions for internal democracy, by stipulating that political parties nominate candidates only by elected party delegates, could be jettisoned. Political parties will be able to select delegates at will, the offensive idea of consensus candidates will be allowed to thrive, and the situation that led to litigation all around the country, most famous of which was current Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi’s, would be perpetuated. .

Even worse was the president’s proposal that Section 87(8) of the Electoral Act 2010 be deleted. The 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 election.”

This section sought to prevent the president or governors flooding political party congresses with ministers, commissioners and others and to avoid the situation where a governor with about 1000 assistants (as obtains in Adamawa State) is able to skew the primaries heavily. Finally, it sought to give the leadership of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the power to determine the sequence in which elections are held.

Thankfully, the Senate immediately resisted the president’s transparent plan to hijack the new Electoral law, rightly calling his proposals undemocratic and “toxic”. Last Wednesday, the Senate acted in a largely unified manner to shut down Mr. Jonathan’s attempt to reshape the 2010 Electoral Act. Their move was devoid of the political or ethnic sentiments that usually colour similar debates. They were determined to “kill the bill” and perhaps send a message to the presidency.

It can be assumed that Mr. Jonathan and his campaign team experienced something of a shock to the system from the Senate’s rejection. Of course it is possible that the Senate’s action was predicated on self-interest rather than commitment to the nation, since many of them were affected adversely by these kinds of provisions in the last election cycle. Still this was a laudable move.

At least, on this issue, we know that the National Assembly stands with the rest of Nigeria.

The question now is: where does Jonathan stand? He has spoken severally about giving Nigerians “free and fair elections”, but not only do his intentions signify a desperate man looking for loopholes to manipulate, they belie his stated commitment to improving the democracy in Nigeria. The unavoidable conclusion is that President Jonathan’s incumbency is following the predictable trend.

Unfortunately, this was no isolated incident. The president has shown a disappointing propensity to play politics with issues of national importance, and in this case he doesn’t seem to get the message that it’s him against the national interest. “We haven’t given up. We will go back and negotiate and ask questions,” said one of his campaign managers to NEXT last week. “There is not absolute victory or defeat.”

This is very worrying. President Jonathan fell into a deep, dangerous hole with his unholy move to circumvent reforms already agreed on. Right now, it is time for him to put the shovel down first, and stop digging.