The eyes of Nigerians are on 14 Nigerian lawmakers who are members of the harmonisation committee for the electoral amendment act as they harmonize various factions of the electoral act. The 14 lawmakers are expected to make crucial decisions around discrepancies in sections of the electoral act passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The belief that many Nigerian politicians cannot survive a credible election is gradually shaping up as the National Assembly continues to insist on excluding electronic transmission of election results into the new Electoral Act. Having failed to pass the Electoral Amendment Bill before the end of the First and second quarter of the year 2021 as promised, the National Assembly has eventually passed the all-important electoral act but not without controversies.
There are at least 16 different clauses of the electoral amendment bill with disparities between the Senate and House of Representatives. The Controversial Section 52 of the Bill that has to do with the conduct of the poll has continued to be the bone of contention not just between both chambers of the National Assembly but also between the National Assembly and the CSOs.
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The House in sub-clause 2 empowers the Commission to determine the method and procedure for voting and transmission of results whereas the Senate in sub-clause 4 requires the Commission to seek the approvals of both the NCC and the National Assembly before deploying electronic means to transmit results.
As the National Assembly constitutes a team of 14 lawmakers to harmonize the different factions of the electoral act, there have been major concerns that members of the committee are dominated by one particular party or dominated by critics of electronic transmission of election results. This reignites fears about issues of political interest against the interest of a credible electoral system in Nigeria.
This is despite the reiteration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that it is ready for electronic transmission of election results. INEC says it has developed adequate structures and processes to successfully transmit election results electronically. The commission stated that the available national infrastructure, including mobile network coverage, was adequate to provide for electronic transmission of election results.
In its position paper released to the general public, INEC expressed its belief that electronic transmission of results would improve the quality of election results management, while its engagement with stakeholders had shown that the Nigerian public supported electronic transmission of election results.
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Similarly, CSOs who have consistently observed elections have called on the National Assembly to, as a matter of national interest, allow the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to determine the mode of conduct of elections, including the transmission of results. In a joint statement released, the CSOs said, “as the National Assembly Harmonisation Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives sets for its conference on the Electoral Bill harmonization, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and the EU-SDGN implementing partners call for a dispassionate, selfless decision-making process during the harmonization.”
Other grey areas in the electoral act include the power to print and issue voters cards, offenses of buying and selling voters’ cards, which deals with annual estimates and accounts, offenses relating to the registration of voters, and nomination of candidates by parties amongst others.
