Immediate past President of Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Peter Ojonugwa-Ameh has said that an electronic transfer of election results will naturally do away with election thuggery and pave way for a transparent election.
He said the amendment to the bill must capture in clear terms, that results would be transmitted by electronic means because it will validate the votes by candidates and reduce if not eliminate Thuggery.
Ameh said these in a statement made available to Tribune Online on Sunday and called for more pressure on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the national assembly, from the civil society to actualize this as they begin clause by clause consideration of the bill.
His words: “I am aware of the efforts of INEC and other non-state actors but we need more pressure on these people if we want to get them to do the right thing.
“Electronic transmission of election results is the key to a transparent, credible, free and fair election.
“It is important to clear the air that this does not in any way jettison the old manual order of election result collation process but rather an added advantage to the security and improvement of the process thereby giving the nation dual election transmission system.
“Our being indifferent as a people to how we view elections and issues of Political participation is our major problem.Â
Throwing a jab at the bungling of the amendment by the main opposition party, Ameh said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP was in a better position to tell the nation its feeling over party defections by her members.
“Sometimes driven by Political bias but how long will that last if you don’t fix the problem before we find ourselves on the long end of the stick?
“Please ask PDP how it feels now about how their elected members are cross carpeting to APC because I recalled how PDP vividly opposed strong amendment against defection laws because they were the beneficiary of almost all the defections between 1999 to 2015.
“Today the case has turned the other way round and changed. We must always work for posterity instead of protecting our selfish interest, he advised.
He pointed out that, “Electronic transmission of election results will almost put an end to the criminal history of election manipulations in Nigeria that occurs from polling Stations to Collation centres.”
He maintained that “We need this particular clause to become reality to make sure that the outcome of our Elections reflects the true wishes of the Nigerian people.
“It will put an end to ballot box snatching, ballot stuffing, forgery of election result and presentation of the fake election result, and thuggery will die a natural death. Continuous voter registration will have no advantage if the new electoral act does not come with electronic transmission.
He called on stakeholders to demand an electoral amendment bill that captured the aspirations of the country so that it can outlive the individuals and promote national unity and cohesion
“All we are doing here amount to nothing if we don’t mount pressure on the National Assembly over the issues of electronic transmission of election results.
We will have ourselves to blame if we allow a group of people who are bent on perpetuating themselves in power to get away with this act of robbing the people of a free, fair and credible electoral atmosphere,” he said.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…
and then