Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC-Kano) says the Electoral Act Amendment Bill before the National Assembly will not accommodate independent candidacy because it has no constitutional backing.

Gaya – who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – said this while fielding questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) forum in Abuja.

According to him, since the clause is not part of Nigerian Constitution, there is no way the proposal can form part of the bill.

“A lot of views have been expressed in the report on the Electoral Act amendment bill. Some are talking about the independent candidacy of which we say we cannot do that.

“This is because the independent candidacy is still not in the Constitution and the Electoral Act is inferior to the Constitution so we cannot have another law which supersedes the Constitution,” he said.

He explained that unless the Constitution was amended, the Electoral Act will not be able to adopt provisions for independent candidacy.