Electoral Act Bill: PDP House Caucus accuses NCC of lying on oath

The Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) caucus in the House of Representatives has accused the leadership of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) of deceiving Nigerians on the alleged inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use electronic devices to transmit election results from all polling units in the country.

The caucus alleged that some fifth columnists and anti-democratic forces were bent on truncating the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in the country in 2023.

Following two days of acrimonious debate across Nigeria over the decision of the National Assembly on the amendment to the Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week sought to dispel insinuations about its ability to transmit election results electronically in 2023.

INEC said it has the capacity for electronic transmission of results from remote areas of the country.

“We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access,” INEC’s National Chairman and Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, said on Channels television.

A statement by the  leader of the caucus , Kingsley Chinda (PDP, Rivers), noted that while NCC officials, led by its Vice Chairman, Prof. Umar Garba Dambatta, should be tried for lying under oath, those who made them to tell the lie should also be investigated and tried.

Chinda said: “Electronic transmission has recently been deployed by INEC in Edo, Ondo, Borno, Kaduna elections, among others. It is obvious that there are fifth columnists and anti-democratic elements who are afraid of free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

“For a witness to be sworn under Section 5 of the Legislative House (Powers and Privileges) Act 2017, then proceed to lie under oath and give false evidence to the House, is an offence under Section 7 of the same Act.

“We call on the prosecuting authorities to immediately arrest the officials of the NCC, under Prof. Danbatta, and all those who procured Ubale Maska and other officials to lie under oath to be criminally investigated, and where found culpable, be brought to justice by standing criminal trial.”

The lawmaker added: “It was a show of shame on the floor of the House of Representatives on Friday, July 16, 2020, during the consideration of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.

“The comedy of errors started by the House stopping INEC from appearing before the House to prevent the nation from learning the truth and allowing only the NCC to appear to discuss issues on the ability or otherwise of INEC to handle electronic transmission of votes.

“Officials of the NCC, led by Executive Director (NCC uses Executive Commissioner), Ubale Maska, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman, Prof. Umaru Garba Danbatta, appeared and oath was administered on them, consistent with the Section 5 of the Legislative House (Powers and Privileges) Act 2017.

“While testifying before the House, on the adoption of electronic transmission of results from the units, Ubale Maska claimed that the 2018 Technical Report of the NCC showed that only about ‘50 per cent of the polling units had 3G while 49 per cent had 2G network and below’. “His answers and body language clearly betrayed his intense desire to mislead the House and the nation.

“He cleverly sought to rely on 2018 data in 2021, when they knew or ought to know that internet penetration has advanced substantially in Nigeria since 2018.

“Indeed, a perusal of NCC website, even today, shows that the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 (P. 33) says that by September 2019, the “spread of 3G/LTE” had reached 74.2 per cent in Nigeria.

“Furthermore, MTN (see their website) recently announced that they have achieved an extensive nationwide network coverage of 89.9 per cent. This is just MTN; not to talk of other networks.

“Perhaps, the worst form of perfidy, deception and outright lies is for NCC to hide the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NCC and INEC in 2019…”

Also, the Presidency has told the PDP to forget about returning to power in 2023.

The Senior Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said this after observing the Eid-el-Kabir prayers yesterday in Daura, Katsina State.

“The President enjoys unshakable support, not only in his hometown but also across the country. It is enough for the opposition to admit that the President matters a lot for the ruling party and Nigerians in general. Again, he constitutes a political obstacle they cannot dismantle in 2023.

“We believe the PDP and other opposition parties are nursing false hopes of taking over power in 2023.

“The masses will never abandon President Buhari’s leadership and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

“I assure you that in 2023, the masses will be waiting for the President to show the way in courtesy of what he has been building for the country, in terms of infrastructure and wellbeing for young people in the country.

“Nobody will take the risk by inviting another party to take over in 2023.”

But PDP said the Presidency’s assertion that Nigerians would be waiting for President Buhari “to show the way in 2023” had further heightened public apprehension of self-succession plot by what the party called “the cabal” in the Presidency.

The party’s spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan said Nigerians were jolted when Garba publicly announced in Daura that President Buhari “constitutes a political obstacle” which those who seek to succeed him in 2023 “cannot dismantle”.

Following two days of acrimonious debate across Nigeria over the decision of the National Assembly on the amendment to the Electoral Act, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last Friday, sought to dispel insinuations about its ability to transmit election results electronically in 2023.

The commission said it has the capacity for electronic transmission of results from remote areas of the country.

“We have uploaded results from very remote areas, even from areas where you have to use human carriers to access,” INEC’s National Chairman and Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mr. Festus Okoye, said on Channels television.

“So, we have made our own position very clear, that we have the capacity and we have the will to deepen the use of technology in the electoral process.”

But Okoye said INEC would be guided by the power granted it by the constitution and the law.

“Our powers are given by the constitution and the law, and we will continue to remain within the ambit and confines of the power granted to the commission by the constitution and the law,” he stressed.

The issue of electronic transmission of results had caused sharp divisions in both chambers of the National Assembly with members voting mainly along party lines.