As Senate Beats Retreat on Electronic Transmission of Results

The Senate last week succumbed to pressure from Nigerians, and empowered the Independent National Electoral Commission to transfer election results electronically, Adedayo Akinwale reports

After intense public pressure, the Senate finally beat a retreat by reversing its earlier decision to subject electronic transfer of results to the discretion of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the approval of the National Assembly and gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) the sole right to make the choice.

The Red Chamber in Clause 52 of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill passed almost three months ago, had approved that INEC may consider the electronic transmission of results, provided the national coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the National Communications Commission and approved by the National Assembly.

The Senate had, shortly before proceeding on a two-month annual vacation on July 15, 2021, during the consideration of a report on the 2010 Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021, submitted by its Committee on INEC, amended clause 52(3) as recommended.

While the clause as presented in the committee report stated that INEC could transmit election results electronically, where and when practicable, the Senate had passed the amended version which stated that, “INEC can transmit election results electronically subject to confirmation of Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) of adequacy and security of National Network.”

However, the Upper Chamber revisited the issue last week sequel to the presentation of a motion by the Senate Leader, Senator Yahaya Abdullahi, for the re-committal of some clauses of the Electoral Act No 6 2010 (Repeal and Re-enactment) Bill (SB122) to the Committee of the Whole.

He pointed out that the decision to subject the amended clauses of the bill to re-committal was reached after critical examination by the Senate Committee on INEC.

Abdullahi added that some fundamental issues, which required fresh legislative action, were observed by the Senator Kabiru Gaya-led Committee in the bill.

Seconding the motion, Senator Adamu Alero, said the motion would strengthen the electoral process and give Nigerians more power to select their desired leaders.

He said the motion, if adopted, would help the electorate to ensure that questionable characters were not elected in governance.

According to Alero, the motion would discourage money bags from taking over and determining the outcome of elections in the country.

Lending his voice, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe said Clause 52 (3), which talked about electronic transmission of election results should be made clear for the electoral umpire to decide.

By these decisions, however, the INEC has not only been empowered to electronically transmit election results, the Senate has also given power back to the people in the choice of their representatives at different levels of leadership.

The Senate at the Committee of the Whole chaired by Dr. Ahmad Lawan, amended Clause 52(2) of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill to read: “Subject to section 63 of this Bill, voting at an election and transmission of results under this Bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the Independent National Electoral Commission, which may include electronic voting.”

Recall that it took the House of Representatives two days to consider the report on the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, or better still, to consider the controversial section 52(3) of the bill.

Section 52(3), says “The commission may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable,” which gives the electoral umpire the discretion to decide when to deploy electronic transmission of results.

Upon the commencement of the consideration by the Committee of the Whole, the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Idris Wase who statutorily chairs the committee had a smooth sail at the beginning before he ran into the ice berg of the controversial Section 52(3).

The Deputy Minority Leader, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, then moved an amendment to section 52(3).

The proposed amendment by Okechukwu said “transmission of results under this bill shall be by electronic transmission.”

But Wase immediately protested against the amendment that less than 20 per cent of his constituency had the needed network coverage for transmission of results.

He stated: “I want to believe that…. I don’t know the coverage of the broadband. Have we covered the entire country so that we can have electronic transmission?

“I make bold to say it, you can go and verify it. We have not more than 20 per cent coverage in my constituency, except you want to disenfranchise some people.”

However, the amendment was seconded by the Deputy Chief Whip of the House, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. When it was put to a voice vote, the “ayes” obviously had it, but the deputy speaker again ruled in favour of “nays.”

This led to protests by some lawmakers, which led to an uproar. But James Faleke moved an amendment for transmission to be “by electronic and manual means”.

But, Hon Kingsley Chinda raised a point of order, saying that a decision had been taken and, therefore, the proper procedure was for the House to call for a division.

It was at this point that the Speaker, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila intervened, saying Section 52 could still be amended.

He was, however, challenged by the Majority Leader, Hon. Alhassan Dogwa who said the matter had been disposed of.

Hon. Wale Raji subsequently seconded the amendment, and as with the previous votes, Wase again ruled against the majority, causing another uproar in the House.

Expectedly, in the drama that ensued, Onyejeocha could be heard saying, “this man (Mr Wase) has done it twice, this is not acceptable.”

Following the ruling by Wase, the hollow chamber became rowdy between those in support of the ruling and those against it.

Amid the stalemate, Wase reverted to plenary and, following a rowdy session, Gbajabiamila took over plenary and announced that the House would invite the INEC and the NCC to discuss the possibility of electronic transmission.

The session was subsequently adjourned till the next day to conclude.

The following day, a team from NCC was admitted into the chamber to brief the House on the possibility of electronic transmission of election results in the country.

The NCC Commissioner of Technical Services, Mr. Ubale Maska, told the lawmakers that only 50.3 per cent of the 109,000 polling units surveyed by INEC in 2018, had 3G/2G network coverage, while 40 per cent had only 2G and 10 per cent not having network in any form. He concluded that only 3G/2G combination is sufficient for transmission.

He also said that transmission, like any other system, is vulnerable to cyber-attacks and hacking.

It was after the presentation from the NCC team that the House resolved to the Committee of Whole to continue the consideration of the report, but another rancour erupted when Wase started from clause 53 instead of clause 52.

He, however, assured the lawmakers that clause 52 would be revisited through a motion to rescind the earlier decision.

After other clauses were considered without any hiccups and after the last clause was decided, Wase called Doguwa to move a motion to revert to the plenary to report progress.

The Minority Leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu, then asked, “are we going to review clause 52?”

In his response, the deputy speaker said members who wanted to change any part of the bill should do so through a motion for rescission.

In response, Hon Elumelu said, “Clause 52 is different from other amendments. Members have been trying to say that clause 52 was never carried. I will advise that we leave this chamber because we are not part of it.”

It was at this point that the PDP members staged a walkout while other members considered and passed the bill.

In his closing remarks, Gbajabiamila said, “The House passed the Electoral Act amendment. 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 results, 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 time is right, we can come back and amend the law.

“We don’t want to disenfranchise anybody. We have consistently said that every vote must count. It is not about 10 or 20 per cent coverage or even 90 per cent. If one person’s vote is not counted, it will defeat what we have said on this floor that every vote must count.”

With the turn of event especially at the Senate, members of the Senate Conference Committee on the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021, were expected in the coming days to meet with their counterparts in the House of Representatives to harmonise the two versions passed by both chambers.