Electoral Act Amendment Bill: PDP Govs insist on electronic transmission of results
Electoral Act Amendment Bill: PDP Govs insist on electronic transmission of results
The Governors elected on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have maintained that the National Assembly must approve electronic transmission of election results.
It would be recalled that the National Assembly had earlier in the month rejected the proposal during a plenary on Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill.But the PDP Govs insist the National Assembly must enact laws to make it possible.
In a ten-point -communique at the end of its meeting in Bauchi, the state capital on Monday, Chairman of the Governors’ forum, Waziri Tambuwa said: “On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Governors identified the need for a free, fair and credible elections in the country and called on the National Assembly to entrench Electronic transmission of results of elections in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.”
He also requested the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure votes of all Nigerians count.
The communique reads: “Governors elected on the platform of the PDP met in Bauchi, Bauchi State on 26 July 2021. The meeting deliberated once again on the state of the nation, reviewed the deteriorating state of our democracy, the economic and security situation in the country, the state of the PDP as the main opposition platform in Nigeria, and arrived at the following decisions
“The meeting condemned the attempt to foist on all political parties, one method of conducting primaries, that is, by DIRECT METHOD ONLY, through the Electoral Act Amendment Bill. The Governors noted that the method is prone to massive rigging, as evidenced by a situation where President Buhari scored about 15 million votes in the 2018 APC Direct Primaries only to score 15 million votes from the entire country in the 2019 General Election.
“The Governors advised that political parties, should be allowed to decide whether to use direct or indirect method of conducting primaries as part of internal democracy in political parties.
“On the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Governors identified with the need for a free, fair and credible elections in the country and called on the National Assembly to entrench Electronic transmission of results of elections in the nation’s electoral jurisprudence.
“The meeting requested Independent National Electoral Commission (NEC), the only body empowered by the Constitution to conduct elections, to deploy appropriate technologies necessary to ensure that the votes of every Nigerian is counted and made to count.
“The meeting further called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), especially, the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (NIGCOMSAT), Telephone Companies (Telcos) and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that universal access and service of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are provided especially in rural, un-served and under-served areas of the country before the 2023 General elections.”
