Victor Umeh, senator representing Anambra central, says more than 85 percent of senators supported electronic transmission of election results during deliberations on the Electoral Act amendment.
On Wednesday, the senate retained the provision for
electronic transmission of results as contained in the Electoral Act 2022.
The red chamber, however, rejected proposals for real-time
transmission of results and a 10-year ban on vote buyers, opting to keep
existing penalties of fines or jail terms.
The clarification followed public criticism after reports
suggested lawmakers rejected electronic transmission and tougher sanctions for
electoral offences.
Speaking on Thursday during an appearance on Channels
Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Umeh said claims that the senate rejected
electronic transmission misrepresented the chamber’s decision.
He said the resolution followed an extensive legislative
process involving readings, consultations and public hearings nationwide.
“It takes a process to make a law. A bill must go through
readings, public hearings and consultations before debate and passage. Law is
not made by the national assembly alone. It is made by carrying Nigerians
along,” he said.
Umeh added that the disputed nature of the 2023 elections
heightened public expectations that the amended electoral law would strengthen
credibility and public confidence in future polls.
The lawmaker said the amendment of Clause 60 of the
Electoral Act 2022, which deals with the transmission of results, enjoyed
unanimous support during the senate’s consultations.
He added that the issue dominated retreats, zonal public
hearings and joint sessions held by the national assembly on the bill.
“It is good to say that in all these retreats, all these
zonal public hearings, all the consultations and joint sessions we had, one
issue received unanimous approval and demand from the public, and that is to
amend Clause 60 of the Electoral Act of 2022 as it affects transmission of
results,” he said.
Umeh reiterated that stakeholders agreed to explicitly
provide for the electronic transmission of results to avoid future legal
ambiguities.
“It is based on these that all the stakeholders decided that
this amendment will provide for the electronic transmission of results, so that
where there is a dispute again, the court will not say that it is unknown to
law,” he said.
The legislator added that both chambers worked separately on
the amendment, noting that the house of representatives had already passed its
version with clear provisions for electronic transmission.
‘THERE WAS NO DEBATE ON TRANSMISSION’
The Anambra senator said an eight-member ad hoc committee
set up by Senate President Godswill Akpabio also retained the electronic
transmission provision in its report to the senate.
“Of course, it was debated exhaustively, because their
committee retained the electronic transmission of results on what they brought
back to the senate,” he said.
“Over 85 percent of senators agreed to electronic
transmission. It was common ground. Even the ad hoc committee of the senate
agreed to it.”
Umeh also faulted claims that the provision was expunged
during plenary, saying no such debate took place.
“Eventually, I heard that somebody said they want to expunge
‘transmission’ and somebody seconded. It was not debated,” he said.
“If such a major alteration to what has been generally
agreed to were to come up again, it would be thrown open again. We didn’t
debate anything like that.”
He said polling unit results are to be transmitted
electronically to IReV, adding that the only modification agreed to was the
removal of the phrase “in real-time”, due to concerns that technical delays
could arise.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com