By Millicent Onaga, Enugu
Despite the rejection of Electronic Transmission of results by the National Assembly in the electoral Act (Amendment) bill, a former Deputy Senate President and Senator representing Enugu West Constituency, Senator Ike Ekweremmadu have called on Nigerians to cheer up and stop mourning over the development, noting that there is still hope of making sure that every vote in our elections count.
He expressed hope that despite whatever may have happened at the National Assembly, INEC will still do the needful by adopting any system that will make the vote of Nigerians count and eliminate most of the electoral frauds that makes Nigeria a laughing stock among the comity of nations
Senator Ekweremmadu who is also a Professor of Law made this known recently while speaking at the launching of a book titled: THE LAW AND PRACTICE OF IMPEACHEMENT IN NIGERIA authored by Prof. Uwakwe of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu University in Anambra State.
While stating that the National Assembly will constitute a Conference Committee after the recession which will either adopt the recommendations of the House or the Senate, the Lawmaker added that the Conference Committee may likely toe the line of patriotism which will ensure that all Nigerian votes count.
He maintained that electronic transmission of results is not a complicated technology adding that one can use either the WhatsApp technology or Satellite technology. According to him, ‘this is a very simple technology, there is no Local Government headquarters in Nigeria that doesn’t have network, so all you need to do is to take a photograph of the result sheet and when you get to the Local Government headquarters you transmit and it will immediately show in INEC portal.”
The former Deputy Senate President commended INEC for assuring Nigerians that it is capable and able to transmit all results electronically in all parts of Nigeria emphasizing that what INEC did in Edo, Ondo, Kaduna and so many other parts of country was encouraging. According to him, “I was in Edo State to monitor the Governorship election and what INEC did with the unit-to-unit electronic result transmission was great. Apart from ensuring that all votes count, the electronic transmission of results naturally eliminates thuggery, ballot box snatching, falsification of results etc.”
Senator Ekweremmadu also reminded Nigerians that the1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic Nigeria empowers INEC to conduct all elections, collate and declare results adding that nobody can make laws to interfere on INEC constitutional rights, maintaining that such laws will be null and void to the extent of the interference.
He expressed hope that despite what may have happened at the National Assembly, INEC will still do the needful by adopting any system that will make the vote of Nigerians count and eliminate most of the electoral frauds that makes Nigeria a laughing stock among the commity of nations.
Meanwhile, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had earlier insisted that it has the capacity to transmit unhindered, election results from far-flung parts of the country, again contradicting claims by both the National Communications Commission (NCC), and the National Assembly.
According to Festus Okoye the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Voter Education, “INEC has the capacity to transmit election results from the polling units to the Registration Area Collation Centres to the Local Government Collation Centres, the various State, Federal and Senatorial district collation centres, and the State and national collation centres.