- Says conference committee will harmonise position of Senate and House on electoral bill
By Deji Elumoye
The President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan, has defended the position taken by the Senate on the electronic transmission of election results, saying it gave a conditional approval to electronic transmission of results because over 50 per cent of Nigerian voters would have been disenfranchised if total e-transmission had been adopted.
This is just as he disclosed that a conference committee will be set up by both the Senate and the House of Representatives to harmonise their positions on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021.
The Senate had on Thursday, while considering the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill, voted that: “The Commission (INEC) may consider electronic transmission of results, provided the national coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the National Communications Commission (NCC) and approved by the National Assembly.”
Lawan, who spoke at the weekend while on a visit to his Yobe North Senatorial District, explained that the Upper Chamber voted the way it did in defence of about half of the Nigerian voters whose votes may not be counted with immediate deployment or application of electronic transmission of election results.
Commenting on the passage of the Electoral Act 2010 Amendment Bill, the ranking senator expressed joy that Senate has been able to pass the amendment even though some people are complaining of what was passed in the Senate and probably what the House of Representatives has also passed.
According to him, when most senators voted against the immediate application or deployment of electronic transmission of results from the polling units, to the ward, to the local government, states and federal, they didn’t say they do not believe in electronic transmission (of election results).
He stressed that at one point or the other, all the 109 senators believe that the electoral process must deploy electronic transmission so that it eases and enhances the electoral process and give it more credibility and integrity.
The Chairman of the National Assembly further called for caution as the nation has not reached the stage where you could deploy the electronic transmission from every part of the country, adding that no matter what anybody may say, you cannot have about 50 per cent of Nigerian voters not participating or not getting their votes counted in elections and say it doesn’t matter.
He said: “We know the evils of not transmitting results electronically but compare the evils of electronically transmitting just half of the electoral votes from Nigerians and say you have elected a president with 50 per cent only. And others have voted but their results or their votes could not be electronically transmitted. This is disenfranchising Nigerians and we are not going to support this kind of thing because essentially, we are supposed to be fair to every part of Nigeria and when we voted, every part of Nigeria voted for and against (the amendment).
“What I mean here is that you have senators from northern part of Nigeria who voted for electronic transmission. Maybe that is their belief or their environment is ready for electronic transmission. And you have senators from the southern part of Nigeria who voted against immediate deployment of electronic transmission but they support that the electronic transmission of results should be allowed after certain conditions are met and the conditions are simple. The National Communications Commission (NCC) had provided the technical information that only NCC could give – that only about 50 per cent of the Nigerian environment, the polling units, in the country could possibly have their results electronically transmitted.
“So what happens to the other 50 per cent. So we believe that all of us in the Senate were aiming at the same target but chose to go through different routes and that is why in my concluded remarks in the Senate after the debate and voting, I said there was no victor, no vanquish because we all meant well.”
Lawan has a word of advice for those Nigerians who still feel that the electronic transmission should have just been allowed to take effect, saying this is how democracy works.
“Democracy is to allow those minority views to be expressed and democracy provides that the majority views will always prevail,” he said.
The Senate President said it was wrong to conclude that senators who voted for electronic transmission with conditions did not like the results transmitted electronically.
“I want to take this opportunity to debunk that insinuation or outright castigation of senators that voted against immediate deployment of electronic transmission that they don’t like electronic transmission. It is not true.
“Even though I didn’t vote. But I believe that what my colleagues did is binding on all of us in the Senate. 28 against 52,” Lawan said.
He stated that a conference committee will be constituted by the two chambers of the National Assembly to harmonise their positions on the Electoral Act before submission to President Muhammadu Buhari for assent.
“l believe that what we have done requires that the Senate and the House will each constitute a conference committee. What we call harmonisation for the two sides. When we harmonise, then we will send it to Mr President,” he said.
