SENATE President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan, Tuesday, clarified that the Electoral Act 2022 did not provide for electronic transmission of election results as being demanded by a cross-section of Nigerians for 2023 election results.
Speaking while contributing to a motion sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central) on the controversies trailing the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, Lawan said that what was passed by the National Assembly was snapping of election results and transferring to the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
This was even as the motion, which centred on the need for calm and appeal to political parties, stakeholders and Nigerians to abide by the rule of law on the election process in the just concluded election, triggered a heated debate among the senators.
“In the Electoral Act that we passed, there is nothing like electronic transmission of results because transmission is when you vote and it goes into the server. What we passed and I can recollect this vividly because I read the Act when it was a Bill several times, is to transfer after all the paper works that we normally do are done, the party agents, the security, everybody that need to have the paper will have it, INEC will scan or snap the result sheet and transfer or transmit or whatever it is, that thing that is captured with the BVAS – the result.
“For me, my understanding is if any result that was captured and sent differs from something gotten somewhere, that one is illegal, and only the court, not us here (Senate/National Assembly) can do anything. So, we urged INEC to follow the Electoral Act and the other laws and their guidelines, that’s all.
“In this chamber, we are not going to interpret the Electoral Act. This is not a court of law. We are just to guide this debate and talk about the general principles of how this election and declaration should be done. There is no need to stress ourselves. What we are doing is to urge INEC to follow the law and the citizens should be calm,” the Senate President said.
The motion, which centred on the need for calm and appeal to political parties, stakeholders and Nigerians to abide by the rule of law on the election process in the just concluded election, triggered a heated debate among the senators.
While senators belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), supported debate on the motion, those in the opposition kicked against it.
Oloriegbe, who moved the motion anchored on Orders 41 and 51, said it was very important for the upper legislative house to look into the controversy surrounding results collation by INEC and bring calm to the raging storm among political parties.
His words, “The Senate should urge all political actors, leaders and every Nigerian to remain calm and allow collation and announcement of the presidential and National Assembly elections to proceed based on the provisions of the electoral act.”
However, in what may consider counter motion, Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers West), said it was wrong to bring up the issues at such a critical time like this, saying “the Senate wasn’t the place to state what the guidelines of the INEC should be.”
Corroborating Apiafi, Emmanuel Orker-Jev (PDP, Benue North West), said “the best way is to step down this order because if we are already generating this kind of controversy, imagine what will happen out there.”
On his part, Adamu Bulkachuwa (PDP, Bauchi North), noted that the Senate should stay clear of the issues due to the raging controversy on it.
“Whatever happens in the collation centre and in the social media, the Senate should not involve in it. We passed the Electoral Act and for goodness sake, if we don’t step this motion down, there will be endless controversy on party lines and God knows what it will generate in the public domain,” he said.
Also kicking against the motion, Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South) said, “the process is still an ongoing one and INEC should follow its own guidelines and the Electoral Law. We should not ignite violence and the best way is to ask everybody to maintain peace and order while we go through this process and finish it properly.”
Meanwhile, Sani Musa (APC, Niger East ) and others from the ruling party, supported the motion, which paved way for a full debate on it.
He said: “It is very clear that accreditation and verification are to be done by the BVAS. We are not voting electronically for that real-time transmission to happen.
“Transmission can only happen after it has been published on BVAS. So it is not real-time. We are not a court to interpret but INEC has a responsibility to stick to guidelines.”
“It is a simple process and that process after publishing, they send it to back-end servers and it is after then that INEC can put it on IREV. INEC has been attacked over 160 times and nobody has been making any issue about that,” he added.
Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), in his own contribution, said the judiciary should not allow itself to be dragged into interfering with the elections without passing through the proper process.
Faulting the Senate President’s argument on the provisions of the Electoral Act regarding the electronic transmission of results, Senators Gershom Bassey (PDP Cross River South) and Abba Moro (PDP Benue South), insisted that the chambers of the National Assembly – Senate and House of Representatives – duly passed the provisions in the Electoral Act which mandates INEC to transmit election results electronically from the polling units to its central server.
Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Moro said despite the nationwide cry against the non-conformity of the INEC to the Electoral Act as regarding the electronic transmission of results, the Commission went ahead to announce the results.
His words, “By the passage of the Electoral Act, it is expected that BVAS was supposed to be used. It is supposed to provide information about the numbers of people that were accredited, and the eventual voters. What it means is that BVAS should be able to transmit electronically from the polling unit to the server in the INEC office.
“That is our understanding of the whole process. If we understand them to be so, what it means is that it is expected that the same instrument should be able to transmit the results to the central system.”
“When it gets to the wards, it is supposed to transmit to the local government and later to the state. It is expected that when these sequences are followed, will guarantee transparency in the system,” he added.
Moro further lamented that Nigeria’s image, integrity and sovereignty were at stake. “The announcement of the election results would definitely affect the credibility of future elections in Nigeria,” he said.
Corroborating Moro’s submission, Gershom said, “Results were not uploaded to the server and we began to realise that it was a widespread issue throughout the country.
“The key element of the process is that when the results are collated at the unit level, they should be uploaded to the server which must be accessible to everyone.
“That’s the whole essence of the new amendment to the law; voter verification and verification of results. The verification from the server is the key plank of the process.”
“It is the leg upon which the transparency of the INEC stands. We are saying that the process has been compromised because many polling units have not been uploaded and it’s a major flaw of the election.
“It is clearly stated in the Electoral Act that when you vote in your unit, the results would be uploaded to a website where people can see the results in real-time,” he added.
The Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, had in July 2021, explained that allow electronic transmission of results in all areas of the country would be “discriminatory”, considering the position of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that there isn’t network coverage across the country.
The Senate and House of Representatives had in the new Electoral Act granted the NCC powers to certify coverage, subject to approval by the national assembly, before INEC can be allowed to adopt electronic transmission of election results.
Omo-Agege who voted against allowing INEC full powers to decide on transmission of results electronically in a statement issued on Saturday, July 17, 2021 by his media aide, Efe Duku, explained what informed his decision.
“If INEC is allowed unfettered E-transmission power, then there will be unequal treatment of election results and that would be a fundamental lawmaking flaw.”
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