Senate’s rejection of mandatory e-transmission of election results is a regression —Itodo

Samson Itodo is the Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and Convener of the Not Too Young To Run Movement.

YOUR organisation has long advocated mandatory electronic transmission of election results, especially after the 2023 elections. How do you react to the Senate’s decision on Wednesday to reject that provision in the Electoral Act amendment?

The action taken by the Senate, like we said, is a betrayal of the trust of Nigerians, and it sets Nigeria and the entire country back, and it’s a regression, we must say. A situation where the Senate decides to vote down a particular provision that enjoys popular support really puts the question: do they exist to defend and protect public interest and the interest of their constituents, or do they exist to protect their own interest? So it is unfortunate, and we urge the Senate to rescind its decision and adopt real-time electronic transmission in the Act because it would deepen the integrity of our electoral process.

Even some opposition senators, including the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe of Abia South, have seemingly defended the chamber by claiming that transmission of election results is in the bill they passed, which sounded like the discretionary provision that caused controversy after the 2023 elections. Isn’t the actual issue about mandatory transmission?

No, I don’t think Senator Abaribe, in my understanding, is defending the Senate or the Senate President (Godswill Akpabio). What Senator Abaribe is saying is that, as far as they are concerned, the provision in the bill that they passed makes provision for electronic transmission of results in real time. That’s the point he’s making.

But in a recent interview, he appeared to avoid the term “mandatory transmission”, which is the crux of the issue for advocates.

The moment you say shall, in legislative drafting, it connotes mandatory. So he doesn’t need to state mandatory. He’s insisting that what is contained in their report is what they voted for. So if there was a modification of that vote to remove real-time transmission of election results, they are not aware of it because that’s not what they agreed to. He’s only insisting that what they agreed was mandatory real-time transmission of the results. It is clear that in the course of the proceedings, there was an amendment that was made and that was not debated, and it didn’t enjoy popular support. So he tells us that there were actually shenanigans on the floor of the Senate to eliminate and water down the provision that senators agreed would be part of the deal.

Yiaga Africa already called on the Joint Conference Committee of the House of Representatives and Senate to ensure that the final bill sent to President Tinubu has the mandatory transmission provision. Do you have confidence in the committee to heed your call?

The Conference Committee needs to know that they have a huge burden, and that burden is to ensure that they defend public interest. There’s a call to duty to defend national interest. Therefore, our expectation is that they will rise to the occasion and remedy the travesty which the Senate seemed to have executed last week with the way they passed their bill.

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So our expectation is they will consider and adopt the House position, but not just electronic transmission alone, but also electronic collation, because that will be very necessary for keeping the integrity of the electoral process.

In your view, can there be a credible electoral reform without mandatory electronic transmission of results, downloadable voter cards, and sufficient timelines for critical pre-election activities, as you pointed out in your organisation’s analysis of the bill?

One thing is clear: we have said, and we will continue to say, that without electronic transmission of results—and compulsory in this case—without also electronic collation, what we are simply doing is jettisoning and undermining the credibility of the 2027 elections. No election can be said to be free, fair, and credible when you remove all the guardrails that ensure that the election is not manipulated or stolen.

Lastly, if the Conference Committee fails to heed your recommendations and upholds the Senate version, what would be your organisation’s recourse?

Well, there are several options that Yiaga Africa, citizens, and civil society can take. If they go ahead with this proposal, they are simply telling Nigerians that there’s no need to vote in 2027 because they will be providing a leeway for politicians to undermine and steal elections. So there’s no way the elections will be credible. They will also be telling Nigerians that they don’t represent us; they represent their own interests. And therefore, if you don’t represent your people, then I see no reason why you should still be sitting in the Senate or even in the National Assembly, because the reason why they are there in the first place is because people voted them into power. They are employees of the people, and they must do the bidding of the people. And when they take actions that deviate from public interest, that undermine public interest, they lose the legitimacy to even call themselves senators.