Senate approves amendment of electoral act

The Nigerian Senate has approved the report of the conference committee on the amendment bill of the Electoral Act.

During plenary on Tuesday, the Senate also approved that all political parties must now use the direct primary mode in picking candidates.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, at the plenary.

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The Senate and House of Representatives had, in July, passed different versions of the document.

In its submission, the upper legislative chamber proposed either direct or indirect party primary while the House of Representatives made direct primary compulsory for all parties.

During the debate, the Senate also empowered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to determine whether the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can proceed with the plan electronic transmission of election results.

But the lower legislative chamber did not confer the Commission with such powers.

The Senate provisions had irked Nigerians, leading to the formation of the conference committee to address the anomalies.

In the conference committee report, the two chambers empowered INEC to determine the most appropriate mode of transmitting election results in the country.

The Clerk of the National Assembly, Amos Ojo, has therefore been directed to send a clean copy of the document to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.