The plan to save the nation’s electoral process from malpractices by making card reader and electronic transmission of results compulsory during polls, is currently generating controversy in the Senate.
Investigation by our correspondent revealed that the Senator Kabiru Gaya-led Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission, based on input from Nigerians during the public hearing on the ongoing amendments to the Electoral Act, has included the compulsory electronic transfer of votes and card reader, in its report.
The report of the Electoral Act 2010 Amendments Bill is billed for submission any moment from this week, according to a source, who is a member of the INEC panel.
There are, however, strong indications that some forces from outside the chambers have started lobbying their political allies in the Senate to oppose the provision for electronic voting.
A Senator from the South-East geopolitical zone, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, confided in our correspondent that there were actually moves to scuttle the use of electronic transmission of results in the 2023 general elections.
He said, “We all agreed at the commencement of the amendment exercise that we should include electronic voting in the bill but since INEC has told us its limitation regarding that for now, we settled for mandatory use of card readers and electronic transfer of results from the polling units to INEC central server.
“However, the feelers we are getting from some of our colleagues indicate that some people are warming up to reject the inclusion of the proposal in the bill by opposing it during third reading at plenary.
“I wonder for how long some people want to be manipulating election process in Nigeria to their advantage. The peoples’ vote must count. We won’t continue to allow some people to be writing results and imposing them on INEC.”
Another Senator from the South-West geopolitical zone, who also craved anonymity, said he was aware of surreptitious moves by some of his colleagues to oppose the issue of electronic voting and card reader.
He said, “ It is our wish that the card reader and electronic transfer of results be made compulsory by including it in the Electoral Act that we have just amended but some of our people are already opposing that novel idea.
“We have also made up our minds to mobilise our colleagues who have the interest of the country at heart to oppose any evil and wicked plans to rubbish the 2023 elections. The peoples’ vote must count.”
However, some senators who spoke with our correspondent on record said any plan to frustrate the use of electronic voting in the 2023 polls would fail.
They expressed delight that the INEC committee had included the mandatory use of electronic voting as part of their recommendations in their final report which would be presented to the Senate at plenary very soon.
They insisted that passing the amendments to the Electoral Act without specific provision for mandatory use of electronic voting would not make the National Assembly to achieve the intention of the current amendments.
Senator Matthew Urhoghide said he would vote for electronic voting anytime the report of the INEC committee is presented at plenary.
He said, “I’m not pessimistic, I am very optimistic that the electronic voting will be passed with the Electoral Act amendments. I will vote for it.
“The sanctity of the ballot paper must be upheld. Anybody who subverts it is worse than armed robber.
“What we are saying is that once the vote is cast, it must be transmitted immediately to the server.
“We are insisting that the transmission of results must be done electronically to the server right from the polling unit”.
Also Senator Gershom Bassey said the electronic voting remained the best aspect of the electoral reforms.
He said, “We have not seen the report of the INEC committee yet so it is not good to speculate.
“We will have to wait and see but if we go by what happened during the eighth Assembly when the document was passed and sent to the executive for assent, the issues of electronic transfer of results and compulsory use of card reader was captured.
“It is my expectations that if we want free and fair elections in this country, it is a very crucial aspect of the electoral reforms.
“It is important that when people vote, as we saw in Edo State, as soon as you vote, the results at the polling unit are sent to the central server.
“It is that aggregation without any interference, from collation centres, and all sorts of funny things. It is possible to aggregate the results from the polling unit and come up with the results for the constituency”
Similarly, Senator Frank Ibezim said, “Electronic voting is the way to go because it is what the electorate want.”
Senators Abba Moro and Chukwuka Utazi also held similar view.
They insisted that the use of electronic voting remained the best way to achieve a free, fair and credible elections in the country.
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