Despite the signing of the
reviewed Electoral Act by
President Goodluck Jonathan last
week Friday, the Presidency has
already initiated a process of
sending an Amendment Bill on
the Electoral Act to the National
Assembly.
In fact, the President, Dr.
Goodluck Jonathan, has set up a
committee with the mandate of
vetting the entire Electoral Act.
According to an impeccable
source in the Presidency, the
President has already registered
his complaints to some members
of the leadership of the National
Assembly who met with him last
weekend at the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
According to the source, the
President identified two major
areas where the new Electoral
Act needed to be amended.
These are the sections relating to
how primaries for the
presidential election are to be
conducted and the other being
the designation of the special
delegates for the primaries.
It was gathered that Jonathan is
not comfortable with the
provision of the new law, which
specifies that the primaries for
the presidential election should
be held on state to state basis
rather than the previous practice
where the presidential primaries
is held at a specific venue on a
particular date, with all delegates
gathered.
Our source further revealed that
the concern of the President ’s
campaign team is that if
primaries for the presidential
election are staggered,
Jonathan ’s campaign team will
encounter a peculiar problem in
reaching out to the delegates in
many of the states, especially in
the North, a situation that could
leave primaries entirely in the
hands of the state governors.
The source said, “The President is
not comfortable with the
provision that primaries for the
presidential election should be
held from one state to the other.
“The major concern here is that
if all the delegates were to
converge on a venue to elect the
presidential flag-bearer of the
party, that way the President ’s
anchor men will have the
opportunity to reach out to all
the delegates.
“But if the provision that the
primaries should be held
separately is allowed to stand,
then it means that the governors
will be more on top of the
situation.
“And if there is anything the
President’s team will not accept
in this race, it is leaving anything
to chance. ”
Again, the source said that the
other area where the President
has picked a hole in the
reviewed Electoral Act is about
the designation of special
delegates for the election.
The source said that the concern
of Jonathan is that his
appointees, especially ministers,
should be allowed be vote at the
primaries as special delegates.
The source said, “Another critical
area where the committee set up
by the President is looking at is
the designation of special
delegates for the primaries.
“The President wants all his
cabinet ministers to vote during
the presidential primaries and it
is one of the areas expected to
be amended in the Electoral
Act. ”
Although the source did not
mention the names of members
of the committee that will vet the
Electoral Act, the source
however added that members of
the committee will include some
appointees in the political office
of the Presidency, some state
governors and other appointees
of the President.
The source also said that the
committee is expected to submit
its report to the President “any
time soon.”
The source said it was after that
that the Presidency would
forward an amendment bill on
the Electoral Act to the National
Assembly.
It was gathered that Jonathan
decided to sign the Act into law
in order to fast track the
preparation of the Independent
National Electoral Commission
(INEC) for the 2011 elections.
Sources said that Jonathan was
worried that the fears expressed
by the Chairman of INEC, Prof.
Attahiru Jega, that the enabling
laws that would aid the conduct
of the 2011 elections had not
been signed into law, could
affect the conduct of the
elections.
[b]It was gathered that Jonathan
signed the Electoral Act after
expressing his misgivings about
certain aspects of the law to the
ranking members of the National
Assembly.
A source in the Presidency said,
“ There is no doubt that there
are issues with the Electoral Act
as presently signed into law by
the President.
“But the President was quite
conscious of the need not to give
any room for reasons to be
given for the failure of the 2011
elections.
“Hence his decision to sign the
bill into law and then complain
thereafter.

I still dont understand why all the desperate moves by the President. It seems to me that Jonathan lacks the drive to really lead this country.

One of the early signs he's giving out which many people fail to decipher is that he's a man who's not really in control of things, as shown in the FIFA-NFF drama.

As much as I like him, i still believe inside me that our country needs somebody who can carry his own weight, with a big drive to lead this country by himself, not someone who is being forced to rule to satisfy the selfishness of some group of people. I rest my case.

Its like this guy is loosing it slowly by slowly.

As in how? In what way? I am simply a realist and I try to reason with my head, not with my heart. BTW, I LOVE GJ as a person.

OP, What's your source for this info?