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A former vice
president and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant,
Atiku Abubakar has cautioned members of the National Assembly on the
proposed amendments to the Electoral Act 2010, saying that the
lawmakers should avoid a situation where excessive powers will be left
in one arm of the government.

Mr Atiku, who stated this on his
facebook page, urged the lawmakers to critically study the
amendments,especially the one seeking to make them members of the
National Executive Committee (NEC) of their respective parties before
approving them.

A bill which seeks
to amend the Electoral Act 2010 to allow the 469 senators and members
of the House of Representatives become party decision makers is
currently before the two chambers of the National Assembly.

The bill was
sponsored by Cyril Maduabum (PDP, Anambra).However, a similar bill in
the Senate sponsored by the deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu and
24 others, requires that all committee chairmen and the deputies as
well as the principal officers should be members of the NECs of their
parties.

While acknowledging
that the lawmakers are trying to avoid a situation where the parties
will be hijacked by a clique, Mr Atiku however advised them to weigh
the pros and cons of the amendment before passing it. “Excessive powers
and advantages in the hands of either the executive or legislative
branch of governmentmay lead to tyranny, which may in itself stifle the
growth of democracy,” he said. “Therefore, while welcoming the current
effort to amend the Electoral Act, seeking to make federal legislators
automatic members of their parties’ NECs, I urge the lawmakers to
examine the pros and cons of this amendment in order to sustain public
confidence in the legislative process.” The presidential aspirant noted
that one of the fears being expressed about the proposed amendment is
that it may be unwieldy to have all the members of the National
Assembly in NECs of their parties, which are the highest decision
making bodies.

Personal advantage

He asked the
lawmakers to allay public fears that they are not seeking personal
advantage by the proposed amendments, noting that it could undermine
the credibility of their efforts.

Mr Atiku, however,
admitted that the politics of exclusion and the hijacking of parties by
a clique may have compelled the intervention by the federal lawmakers.
“In doing so, however, I urge the National Assembly to debate the issue
clinically, critically and dispassionately so that in our efforts to
avert dictatorship, we don’t end up entrenching it in disguise,” he
said.

The former vice president said that democracy is a dynamic process
and that at every stage when challenges emerge, new initiatives also
evolve, designed to entrench democratic culture and ethos in the
country and among the existing political parties.