Senator Onyekachi Nwaebonyi, representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, has defended the Senate’s recent amendment to the Electoral Act, insisting that electronic transmission of results from polling units to the INEC Result Viewing (iREV) portal is now mandatory and not subject to the discretion of presiding officers.
Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, on the development, Nwaebonyi said, “By inserting for the first time the electronic transmission in our law, gives court the power to recognise any result from iREV. It was not so before. And I said it, and I expected you should praise me and the 10th senate in that aspect. The 9th senate never did so. You can read the electoral act 2022 from beginning to the end. You will not see where iREV was mentioned. You will not see where electronic transmission was mentioned. But the 10th senate boldly said, in section 60 sub three, as proposed to be amended, that the presiding officer at every polling unit, after collating the result, enter the form EC81A. ‘Shall’, not may. That word shall makes it mandatory.
“That word ‘shall’ gives the court the power to recognise the result in iREV. And if that transmission fails at the moment, it will report in the system that it was tried and it failed. So it doesn’t give INEC or the presiding officer the discretion to say that there is network, and there’s no network.Everybody will be there. The polling unit agents will be there. Security agencies will be there. It will be done in an open place.”
He described the move as a historic intervention by the 10th Senate under the leadership of Senate President Godswill Akpabio. According to him, the amendment expressly inserts electronic transmission of results into the law for the first time, responding to longstanding public demands for greater transparency in Nigeria’s electoral process.
He said, “On behalf of the federal Republic of Nigeria, under the leadership of his excellency senator Godswill Akpabio, yesterday made history in the political and electoral processes and developments of our country, Nigeria. You agree with me that the electoral act 2022 as it is today, pending the amendment, never made mandatory electronic transmission of results from polling units to iREV. It is the 10th Senate in line with demands from all Nigerians that we should make our electoral processes more transparent and fair. And that is why we took that bold step yesterday to expressly insert electronic transmission of results from polling units to iREV. After signing the same result and copies given to polling unit agents and, of course, secret agencies at the polling unit. I believe that with what we’ve done, that all Nigerians should be applauding the 10th Senate, because this is the first time we are taking that bold step.
“And by making it mandatory, that all results from the polling units must be transmitted to iREV. Now, the provision that the opposition is complaining about only said, whereby there is no network, or whereby there are electronic hitches in transmission, just like we witness in our banks. At times, I can transfer money to you.You may not get credit within record time. But that does not mean that that money I transferred, has not gone to your bank, to your account. If you wait for some time, that money will drop. At best, you can make reference to your app.
“So that provision is just saying, whereby there and then, the results didn’t report at the iREV as a result of a network problem or other hitches in the course of the transmission, thta the presiding officer should not cancel such a result.The result in INEC form EC8A should be announced and be transferred to the next level. Probably before we get to the next level, the iREV result may have dropped. That is what we’re talking about. And I believe that all fears have been cleared.”
Further speaking, he said,” I want to assure you that at the end of the day, we’re going to come up with a very solid law that will guarantee free, fair, and transparent election in Nigeria.
“We have strengthened that by making it mandatory, that that result must be electronically transmitted. If it didn’t report at the iREV within record time, that shouldn’t negate the result. You only come up with a point of law where what is written in the polling unit is different from what is reported in the iREV. You can go to court, and I bet you I’m a lawyer, the court will take what is in the iREV, because what is in the iREV is devoid of any form of manipulation. Remember, in the course of accreditation, BVAs are used to checkmate fraud, because at the end of the voting, if the number accredited didn’t tally with the number of votes cast, then there’s a foul play. The law requires the collation officer to cancel such a result. So I believe that all fears has been cleared, and Nigeria should jettison politics to be patriotic for once.
“Notwithstanding, we’ve received praises from majority of Nigerians on what we did, because what was in issue is to make it mandatory for the result to be transmitted electronically, and that is what we have done. The provisor downwards does not suffice. It’s saying in case where such a thing happens, because if you didn’t put that provision, it means that where a network fails and the result is not being transmitted within record time, you are saying that the result should be canceled. That is not fair.”
Melissa Enoch
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