- Safiu Kehinde
A group of major opposition parties has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of setting Nigeria’s democracy back by many decades with the Senate’s rejection of proposal to make real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory.
NPO Reported that the red chamber had yesterday sparked mixed reaction removing the proposal for the electronic transmission of results while passing other amendments made in the 2022 Electoral Act.
Reacting to the development in a joint statement issued on Thursday, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), the opposition parties expressed concern over the decision of the APC-led Senate to remove the proposal.
The parties, in the statement signed by their National Publicity Secretaries, Bolaji Abdullahi, Ini Ememobong, and Bamofin Johnson, respectively, warned of grave implications of the development ahead of the 2027 Presidential election.
They questioned the reason behind the removal of the proposal, considering the APC’s adoption of e-registration of members with the exercise still ongoing.
“The grave implications of this retrogressive act by the Senate have compelled us as spokespersons of the major opposition political parties to jointly address this issue, which is capable of derailing our hard-earned democracy.
“With this anti-people and anti-democratic action, we are concerned that on, the APC-led Senate may have set Nigeria’s democracy back by many decades. It is therefore not surprising that it has deservedly attracted widespread opposition and condemnation from Nigerians across all divides.
“We are at a loss as to why a party that is currently deploying technology to run an e-registration of their members across the country is averse to using technology to transmit results.
“We therefore harbour no doubts about the intention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is in firm control of the two chambers of the National Assembly.” The statement partly read,
The parties accused the APC-led Senate of rejecting the proposal in a bid to manipulate electoral process to the advantage of the ruling party.
They recalled how the lack of mandatory provision for the electronic transmission of results had gravely influenced the Supreme Court’s ruling over cases of electoral malpractices raised after the 2023 Presidential election.
“In the last election, we are witnesses to the plethora of cases where the court, especially the Supreme Court, held that there was nowhere in the principal Act, which is the Electoral Act 2022, where electronic transmission was made mandatory and therefore the act is lacking legislative parentage.
“This immediately signaled a lacuna that needed to be urgently fixed to ensure that future elections do not suffer the same fate.” They wrote.
The opposition parties however urged the lawmakers to ignore their party affiliation and act in the best interest of democracy.
They urged the House of Representatives conference committee established to review and harmonise the provisions of the bill passed by both legislative chambers to align themselves with Nigerians and adopt the mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results.
“Regardless of their party affiliation, we would have expected the Senators to rise above party sentiments and act in the best interest of democracy, for which the legislature remains its most important symbol. But as usual, they failed the people they are supposed to represent.
“However, beyond providing a basis for judicial action in future, the electronic transmission will increase transparency, trust and belief in the electoral process, which in turn will deepen and consolidate democracy in our country. With this rejection, the Senate has returned Nigeria to square one.
“The ball is now in the court of the conference committee, and we strongly urge its members to align themselves with the Nigerian people by adopting the position of the House of Representatives on mandatory real-time electronic transmission of election results.
“They should not act as politicians, whose eyes and thoughts are only on the next elections, but as statesmen, who should have the next generation in mind.
“We are trusting that they will act in the best interest of the people, to forestall the negative consequences that may be result in foisting anti-democratic laws on the people.” The statement read further.