July 7/17/2021
By Tony Akowe; Nicholas Kalu; Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja
PDP kicks, may head for court
Tambuwal: NCC’s role is unconstitutional
House okays PIB, adopts 3% for host communities
Like the Senate before it, the House of Representatives on Friday passed the controversial Electoral Act amendment bill, ceding the prerogative to decide the mode of transmitting election result to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The House upheld the controversial Clause 52(2) which allows INEC to determine when, where and how voting and transmission of results will be done.
It stipulates thus: “Voting at an election and transmission of result under this bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the commission.”
But Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said while the House would have loved to approve electronic transmission of results, information from experts does not support its adoption now.
“It is not as easy as it sounds. We must get our electoral process right and when the right is right, we can come back and amend the law. We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody,” he said.
The House decision was vehemently protested by members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who had walked out of the chambers after sensing that the proceeding was not going according to their own calculation.
They later said they were not part of the decision.
Their party said it might go court over the House decision.
The House had on Thursday stopped consideration of the report of its Committee on Electoral Matters following a disagreement among members which almost led to a free for all on the floor of the chambers.
Pro electronic transmission of result Reps were disappointed yesterday that the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole and Deputy Speaker Idris Wase ruled against a motion for an amendment moved by Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila had announced that the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigeria Communication Commission and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) would be invited to brief the House on the implication of allowing electronic transmission of election results.
However, when the House resumed plenary yesterday to continue with the consideration of the amendment, the Speaker announced that only officials of the NCC were available to address them.
He said INEC was left out since it is the umpire and would not want to take side in the process.
Gbajabimaila appealed to members to allow consideration of other clauses in the report first before coming back to the controversial clause 52 since it was the only contentious clause in the bill.
Members appeared assured and allowed the proceeding to go on.
However, after the consideration, Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu rose to address the House, drawing the attention of the presiding officer (Deputy Speaker Wase) to the fact that consideration of the report was stalled at clause 52 on Thursday, adding that it would be out of place to ask for the rescission of the earlier decision on clause 52, since no decision had been made.
He said: “What happened yesterday was that the Deputy Minority Leader moved an amendment to clause 52 (2) which was rejected before the Speaker’s intervention. We were still on that amendment which we could not agree on. So, asking for rescission of clause 52 before we can move forward is out of place.”
At that stage, Elumelu began to walk out of the chamber, followed by his deputy and some other members of the PDP and Minority caucus while some others remained behind in the chamber to conclude the consideration.
As soon as Elumelu left the chambers, the Deputy Speaker put the question to the House on clause 52.
Members responded with an overwhelming yes.
After that, they started chanting PIB, PIB, PIB.
In passing the amendment on Thursday, the Senate stipulated that INEC must get clearance from the NCC, which must also be approved by the National Assembly for electronic transmission of election results.
The Bill was read for the third time and passed by the Senate amid an uproar.
Only 50.3 per cent of polling units covered by 2G/3G network
Addressing the House of Representatives on the capability of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) to transmit election results electronically from polling stations yesterday, the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services of the NCC, Engr. Ubale Maska said only 50.3 per cent of the 119,0000 polling units in the country as at 2018 are covered by 2G and 3G network.
Maska, who stood in for the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Dambatta, said election results could only be transmitted by the 3G network, which he said covers only 50 per cent of polling units in the country.
He explained that the result of their 2018 analysis of polling units across the country revealed that 49.7 per cent were yet to have any form of network coverage.
Asked whether it was possible to capture data offline where there is no network and transmit from an area where there is network, he answered in the affirmative, but said it was not the same with electronic transmission.
Responding to a question from the Speaker on the possibility of hacking the system, he said: “No system is safe from hacking. The election in the United States in 2016 there is widespread belief that it was hacked by the Russians.”
We are not against electronic transmission of results, but… – Gbajabiamila
Addressing his colleagues at the end of the exercise, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said the House was not against electronic transmission of result, but rather interested in ensuring that the vote of every Nigerian is protected.
He said: “For clarity, we have left the controversial section 52 as recommended by the committee which is to allow INEC to determine what to do. At least, we have been better informed by NCC that came and answered very critical questions. I want to use this opportunity to talk to people out there as well.
“We all want electronic transmission of result, but based on the information from experts, it is not as easy as it sounds. We must get our electoral process right and when the right is right, we can come back and amend the law. We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody.
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