PDP senators top ‘absentees’ from minority camp at Electoral Act voting
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senators topped the list absent legislators from the opposition political parties on the floor of the Senate during Thursday’s voting to determine the controversial electronic transmission of election results amendment in 52(3) of the Electoral Act No.6, 2010 in the proposed Electoral Act 2021.
It would be recalled that the senate, had Thursday, voted to amend original clause 52(3) of the Electoral Act No.6, 2010 in the proposed Electoral Act 2021 as amended, by substituting the content which said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ‘may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable.’
Deputy Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Sabi Abdullahi in moving for amendments of clause 52(3) after the presentation by the Chairman of the senate Committee on INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, said the clause should be replaced with: “The Commission may consider electronic transmission of results provided that the national coverage as adjudged by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and approved by the National Assembly.”
The senate was thrown into pandemonium in the voting to adopt that motion, as senators were sharply divided along party lines with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) lawmakers calling for the inclusion of the new amendment, while opposition legislators on the floor rejected the conditionality attached to electronic transmission of election results.
In the vote that followed, 52 senators approved for electronic transmission of results, 28 against the amendment while another 28 senators were absent at Thursday’s plenary.
While over 52 senators from mostly the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) voted that INEC may consider the electronic transmission of results provided that the national coverage as adjudged by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and approved by the National Assembly, 28 senators from the mostly the PDP and other minority parties in the senate, voted to make it mandatory for INEC to transmit results of elections by electronic means.
However, a look at the list of absent senators indicate that most of them were from the opposition PDP, which had led the call to protest against tampering with the Electoral Act in the area of electronic transmission of election results. The party was also the first to condemn the eventual amendment approved by the senate which made the process of transmission optional and not fully dependant on INEC to determine.
PDP had while reacting to outcome of the voting, in a statement issued Friday, by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, condemned the ‘conditionalities’ attached to the process of electronic transmission of election results as included in the Electoral act as amended by the senators.
By placing conditionalities to the process of electronic transmission of concluded election results, PDP described the decision of the APC-led senate as ‘an attempt to undermine the country’s electoral process,’ adding further that ‘the action of the APC senators is a direct affront and a defilement of the 1999 constitution, which confers operational independence on INEC to conduct elections free from interferences.’
“The action of the APC senators is an atrocious assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians, who looked up to the Senate for improvement in our electoral process in a manner that will engender free, fair and credible process.
“It is outrageous that the APC and its Senators, in their desperate bid to annex the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), seek to route a statutorily independent commission to the approval of an individual masquerading in the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC); an agency under executive control in addition to an extra endorsement of the legislature, before conducting elections.
“This action of the APC senators is a direct affront, novel in its recklessness and a defilement of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which clearly conferred operational independence to INEC to conduct elections, free from interferences and regulations from any other agency of government.
“The decision of the APC Senators, therefore, amounts to a suspension of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which is a recipe for crisis that could derail our democracy and destabilize our nation.
“It is, to say the least, a preparation for mass rigging of elections across Nigeria by the APC, which must be firmly resisted.”
The party, however, commended its own senators for their ‘resilience’ in voting for the electronic transmission of results.
Ironically, from the list of absent senators released, courtesy of a motion on division by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who had during the heated debate raised a point of Order under Order 73, so as determine who voted for what.
Though, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan had earlier announced on the floor prior to the voting that 28 senators are absent on either ‘legislative and national assignment,’ 10 PDP, 12 APC, 1 YPP senators were absent, especially considering that most of the PDP legislators were former governors of the respective states.
In all, 11 legislators from the opposition parties failed to turn up for the voting, these include: Theodore Orji (PDP, Abia Central); Yaroe Binos Dauda (PDP, Adamawa South); Lillian Uche Ekwunife (PDP, Anambra Central); Stella Odua (PDP, Anambra North); Abba Moro (PDP, Benue South); Chimaroke Nnamani (PDP, Enugu East); Gabriel Suswam (PDP, Benue North East); Nicholas Tofowomo (PDP, Ondo South); Ike Ekweremadu (PDP, Enugu West); and Emmanuel Bwacha (PDP, Taraba South).
Also, Patrick Ubah (YPP, Anambra South) also from the opposition added to that list.
From the ruling party, were: Adamu Mohammed Bulkachuwa (APC, Bauchi North); Lawal Gumau (APC, Bauchi South); Olubunmi Adetunbi (APC, Ekiti North); Rochas Okorocha (APC, Imo West); Barau Ibrahim Jibrin (APC, Kano North)
Mandiya Bello (APC, Katsina South); Bala Ib’n Na’ Allah (APC, Kebbi South); Ibikunle Amosun (APC, Ogun Central); Adeyemi Oriolowo (APC, Osun West); Teslim Folarin (APC, Oyo Central ); Aliyu Wamakko (APC, Sokoto North); and Yusuf Yusuf (APC, Taraba Central).
Meanwhile, explaining the senate voting pattern as well as amendments to the Electoral Act 2021, Friday, Deputy President of the Upper Chambers, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, said members of the 9th Assembly did not reject electronic transmission of election results as widely claimed, but instead voted for electronic transmission of election results with a clause that all polling units across the country must have 100 percent internet coverage.
According to Omo-Agege, the country’s electoral units only have 43 percent internet coverage.
Presenting a keynote address titled, ‘Nigeria’s Democratic Experience Since 1999: The Imperative of Reforming The Electoral Process’ he delivered at the 16th convocation ceremony of Benson Idahosa University, Benin City, Senator Sen. Omo-Agege said senators were only trying to avoid a situation where election results are transmitted electronically in some areas while the areas without internet coverage still depend on analogue.
This is also he frowned at those accusing senators of voting against e-voting and e- transmission of polling results as having misunderstood the senate’s position.
On the Electoral act itself and the amendment sought, Omo-Agege said election managers have to checked so as to avoid the barrage of court litigations that trail polls across the country.
“Regardless of the source, electoral offences perpetrated by officials of the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and officials of political parties, candidates and voters have to be tackled frontally to safeguard the sanctity of the electoral process of the nation.”
“It is a big source of erosion of citizens’ confidence in the electoral process that the courts rather than members of the political parties or the electorate as the case maybe, determine winners of party primaries and election seven when the evidence runs to the contrary.
“Examples of judicial decisions that assault the heart of democratic politics are legion.
“The point here is not to question the role of the courts since electoral justice and the adjudicatory processes are recognised as parts and parcel of the electoral process.
“However, the widespread perception that the judiciary lacks independence from the executive and that people pay for judicial outcomes that advance their personal and group Interest raises a question mark about the legitimacy of some elected public officials.
“The country, therefore, needs to urgently address the members of the political class to observe the letters and the spirit of the rules of the game and for the judiciary to be aware that its perception as the temple of justice and the defense of the common man will contribute to the durability of the country’s democratic process.”
