Lawan: Sowore Faults Electoral Act, Decries ‘Loopholes’

The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore, has decried inherent loopholes in the recently signed Electoral Act 2022 that allowed some candidates to be purportedly imposed on the Independent National Electoral Commission for the 2023 elections.

Sowore in a tweet on Thursday quizzed the rationale behind the declaration of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan as a candidate for the Yobe North Senatorial District, “in an election where he never participated in the primary”.

On Monday, the Supreme Court, in a majority judgment allowed the appeal filed by the APC against Bashir Machina’s candidature and affirmed Lawan as the All Progressives Congress senatorial candidate for Yobe North.

Reacting, Sowore said, “I had a chance to tell Nigerian lawmakers the lacuna in the Electoral Act that got the Senate President, Lawan declared a candidate in an election where he did not contest the primary.”

 “I also seriously think that the Electoral Act has some lacuna that is being exploited by the judiciary. We are all aware that even though the portal for the electoral process has been closed, courts are still giving conflicting judgments regarding candidates in this election, including candidates that did not even participate in the primary that has been imposed on INEC as we speak. One of them is your (Senate) President here.”

“An Electoral Act that also empowers INEC to be a major decision-maker for political parties is not a democratic Electoral Act. I also want to say that the Senate should look directly into how to curb INEC’s power to deregister parties because that does not promote democracy at all,” Sowore added.