…APC commends Senate, tackles PDP
…Why Buhari must sign Electoral bill—Afenifere
…It’ll eliminate electoral fraud — Okowa
…It’ll be one of Buhari’s achievements if signed into law – MBF
…Obaseki backs electronic transmission of election results
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…Buhari has no reason to withhold assent –NEF
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IN clear and absolute unanimity, stakeholders yesterday, hailed the National Assembly on inclusion of electronic transmission of election results in the Electoral Act Amendment Bill and urged President Muhammadu to immediately sign the bill into law as soon as he gets it. However, the stakeholders were split on imposition of direct primaries on political parties as the mode of choosing candidates for elections.
The Senate on Tuesday, made a U-turn on its earlier position that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, could only transmit election results electronically with the approval of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC. Now, if the new Electoral Bill is transmitted to President Buhari and is assented into law, INEC is empowered to transmit election results electronically as it pleases without recourse to the NCC.
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APC hails Senate, tackles PDP
The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, commended the Senate for the move and flayed the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for accusing it of using the National Assembly to plot rigging of elections. The APC reaffirmed its “commitment and support for constitutionally-permitted innovations that will improve the transparency and credibility of Nigeria’s electioneering processes and internal democracy, specifically the nomination of political party candidates.”
National Secretary of its Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, CECPC, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, yesterday. The party’s position is against the backdrop of Tuesday’s Senate amendments to the Electoral Act which will ultimately be forwarded to the President for assent.
However, after the opposition PDP accused it of planning to rig elections through the imposition of direct primaries on parties by the APC-led Senate, the ruling party said “the soundbites from the PDP should be ignored in its entirety because PDP is only pretending to be an opposition political party.” However, APC said the patriotic disposition of the multi-partisan 9th National Assembly should be commended.
“It is the right thing for the National Assembly to aggregate and consider the clamor by civil societies, interested stakeholders and indeed all Nigerians on all matters requiring legislation,” APC stated.
The ruling party said in line with its progressive mantra, the credibility of elections has continued to improve under the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government.
Why Buhari must sign Electoral bill —Afenifere
The pan-Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, while hailing the Senate for amending the Electoral Act, urged the president to sign the bill to enable INEC conduct credible elections. Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jare Ajayi, said: “It is quite commendable on the part of the Senate to reverse its decision on the electronic transmission of results. It is commendable because this position is in line with the expectation of Nigerians.
“For that reason, the onus is now on President Muhammadu Buhari to, as urgently as possible, sign the amended electoral bill into law so that there will be no encumbrance of any sort for INEC to go ahead and conduct transparent, credible and fair elections across the country. “So, we use this opportunity to urge president Buhari to quickly assent to the bill.
“The recommendations by the Senate that all political parties select their candidates through direct primaries; this is surprising because it negates the true essence of democracy in the sense that political parties have the right to decide whichever method they want to use.”
It’ll eliminate electoral fraud — Okowa more>>
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State said passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2021 by the National Assembly which empowered the INEC to transmit election results electronically will greatly eliminate electoral fraud. Okowa, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, described the Senate’s decision to hearken to the wish of Nigerians by reversing itself and voting to include electronic transmission of results in the amendment of the electoral law as a victory for democracy.
The Governor said: “Laws are made for the people, not for personal interests and as such, we must always act in the interest of the public.
“Part of the challenges we are facing today as a nation stem from lack of faith in the electoral process which has huge implications for socio-economic activities in the country, including foreign direct investments. Once we are able to get the people to have faith in our electoral process where the people can truly decide who leads them, part of our problems would have been solved.”
Signing the bill, an achievement for Buhari — MBF
The Middle Belt Forum, MBF, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the new Electoral Act Amendment Bill because it will be one of the things that would be recorded for him as an achievement. National President of MBF, Dr. Bitrus Pogu, who gave the advice, yesterday, in Makurdi, commended the Senate for recanting its earlier position on the bill after listening to the views and wishes of Nigerians on the matter.
Dr. Pogu said: “Mr. The President should summarily sign the bill because that is the view and the will of the people. The Senate has after an initial mistake listened to the people, they heard the views of Nigerians and they have acted accordingly by approving and passing a bill which contains electronic transfer of election results from the polling stations. “Not only that, they have also gone ahead to say that we should adopt direct primaries which is the right way to go so that the people’s voice and choice will always be there. It will not be what the money bags will just buy.
“So, these are very good developments that are going to advance our democracy and the view of the people. Mr. President should act likewise and quickly sign the bill into law so that we can start moving ahead and move our democracy forward; and Nigerians will hail him for that.”
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Obaseki backs electronic transmission of election results
He also, for the umpteenth time, vowed not to go back to the APC. The governor stated this while fielding questions from State House correspondents after meeting with President Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said: “If not for God, and the technology utilised by INEC, I may not be governor today. So, I am one of those who believe that we cannot and should not have elections in this country, going into the future, without transmitting results electronically from the polling units, because for elections to be credible, they have to be seen as transparent and once you have voted, you should be assured that your vote will count. “With technology today, it is possible and INEC has shown it from my election, that as soon as you voted, and the results have been counted in the polling units, then that result should be made available, such that you already know what you expect to be collated at the ward collation points.
“What has happened in many cases in the past is that people go and vote, the votes are counted in the polling units, they know, but by the time it gets to the collation point, it changes. But this time around, because of the transparency, everybody will see and know what they are expecting to be collated from the polling units. That is what happened in my election.
“So, I am a very strong advocate for electronic transmission of results from elections and I want to also note that from my personal experience, INEC has the capacity, INEC has the technology, and also the understanding of how these things should work. So, they should be encouraged. I hope and pray that the President will assent to that bill.”
The governor was however not categorical in his assessment of the direct primaries also adopted by the Senate, saying that while political parties should be allowed to determine their own procedure, if properly supervised, direct primaries would help the nation’s democratic development. >See as Buhari blasts Anambra governor
He explained: “My party is currently undertaking electronic registration of our members across the country. Because we anticipated that one day, you will be required to show your own register, because if we as political parties vote on the basis of an election register, then the parties must also have their registers because democracy has to begin with the parties and it’s only when you have very clear, open registers, that you can now have whatever form of elections from within the party.
“I would have thought that parties should have options; if a party wants to reduce the cost of their own internal primaries, by having a delegate system, having an electoral college and a delegate system, they should have the option to do so. But to just lump everybody together and say look, it’s the only way to go, I would have suggested that you should have options.
“However, the direct primaries process, properly supervised, is a very fundamental step in the evolution of our democratic system.”
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