Presidential hopeful, Anyim Pius Anyim has expressed confidence that within a period of six months, he will fix Nigeria if elected as the number one citizen of the country.

During a courtesy visit to a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, in the state, Anyim, a former Senate President pledged to stabilise the country within the stipulated period, and prepare it for growth.

“I promise that within the first six months of my administration, I will stabilise this country and prepare it for growth, peace, and prosperity,” he told Lamido.

“We must agree on the things that divide us. We must come to terms with what works for us. I will provide the platform to midwife this consensus.

“We will all work together to make Nigeria great again. I will provide that distinctive leadership that will build consensus across the country and reconciles Nigerians.”

Speaking earlier at the party secretariat to woo the delegates ahead of the primary, Anyim promised to make Jigawa an export hub of agricultural produce, even as he emphasised that Nigeria has a lot to learn from the state.

“Jigawa State, besides agricultural produce, has a lot more to export to other parts of Nigeria. Jigawa is the only state in Nigeria where there is no insecurity and there is no threat of insecurity,” Anyim added.

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, May 21, 2022, signed into law the controversial 2022 Amended Electoral Act.

A member of the House of Representatives Emeka Chinedu representing Ahiazu/ Ezinihittee Mbaise federal constituency in the House of Representatives disclosed that the bill was signed today.

“I can confirm to you that Mr. President signed the bill into law this afternoon and we are all happy about it as it will give us and other statutory delegates the power to vote at the primaries,” Chinedu said, adding that “the amendment was swiftly done by the national assembly members to legally provide a place in the Act for statutory delegates of political parties to vote during their congresses and conventions.“It will indeed do a lot of good for the upcoming party primaries.”

What you should know about the 2022 Amended Electoral Act

The electoral act has been a bone of contention for a while as the House of Representatives, Senate, and other politicians were excluded from voting in their parties’ primaries by the 2022 electoral act.

Following the omission, both the Senate and House of Representatives last week convened emergency sessions where they amended the act to provide for statutory delegates to vote and be voted for in the forthcoming political parties’ primaries and conventions.

However, with few days left for the primaries to take place, politicians have been pressuring the president to sign it in order to avert a crisis. Newsrand, therefore, presents below how it affects political parties:

• Section 29(1) also makes it a law for political parties to conduct their primaries and submit the list of candidates at least 180 days before the general elections. The list of candidates submitted must emerge from valid primaries conducted by the political party. 
• According to Section 33 of the Bill, political parties are not allowed to change or substitute a candidate whose name has been submitted to the Commission. The only ground on which the Bill allows for such to happen is if the candidate dies.
• In instances where such happens, Section 34 allows the political parties power to conduct a primary election to replace the deceased candidate who died during an election.

The People Democratic Party (PDP) has listed the eligible candidates allowed to vote in the primaries, which are expected to commence on the 22nd of May, 2022.

This was disclosed in a press release by the party via Twitter, titled; ‘Use Of Elected Delegates For The Primaries And National Convention.’

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The Press Release read; “By virtue of Section 84(8) of the Electoral Act, 2022, delegates to vote at the Indirect Primaries and National Convention of political parties to elect candidates for elections shall be those democratically elected for that purpose only.

“Consequently those qualified and eligible to vote as delegates in the forthcoming Primaries and National Convention of our great Party, the PDP are the three (3) AD-HOC Delegates per ward, elected at the Ward Congresses and one (1) National Delegate per Local Government, elected at the Local Government Area Congresses.

“Furthermore, the NWC wishes to inform our Party members that the State Houses of Assembly Primaries to elect our State House of Assembly candidates, earlier scheduled for Saturday, May 21, 2022, will now hold on Sunday, May 22, 2022, from 8:00 am to 12 noon; while the House of Representatives Primaries to elect our House of Representatives candidates will also hold on Sunday, May 22, 2022, from 2:00 pm.

All aspirants, critical stakeholders, leaders, and teeming members of our Party should please take note.