BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
As the Senate closed for work on Thursday, July 15, with an adjournment till September 14, 2021 for its annual recess, its major decision of the day continued to reverberate across the land.
It had just passed the long awaited Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The Bill had generated so much interest like no other in recent weeks.
The upper chamber, during a clause-by-clause consideration of the bill, approved electronic transmission of results during elections with a proviso which many people considered a “complete killing of the provision.”
The Senate passed the provision with a clause that electronic transmission could be allowed provided that such areas were adjudged by the National Communications Commission to be adequately covered under its national coverage and same approved by the National Assembly.
The approval came following an amendment to Clause 52(3) by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger North) during consideration of a report by the Committee on Independent National Electoral Commission. The amendment was seconded by Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South.
The Committee in its recommendation initially prescribed that “the Commission (INEC) may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable.”
This, however, was amended by the Deputy Whip, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, to read, “The Commission may consider 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.”
Senators Sabi Abdullahi and Ali Ndume argued that the blanket recommendation by the Committee for electronic transmission of results in all parts of the country would deprive some Nigerians resident in areas with weak or without network coverage from participating in the electoral process.
According to the lawmakers, in order to ensure fairness and inclusiveness for the electorate, particularly in rural areas, an all inclusive provision must be accommodated in the Electoral Act to protect their participation and votes during elections.
Sabi Abdullahi’s amendment received a favourable ruling by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, when subjected to a voice vote.
However, lawmakers, mostly of the Peoples Democratic Party, led by Enyinnaya Abaribe, Thompson Sekibo and Albert Bassey Akpan disagreed with Senators Sabi Abdullahi and Ndume, insisting that the previous recommendation be retained.
Bassey’s counter amendment which insisted on the retention of the Committee’s recommendation as captured in clause 52 sub-clause 3, nevertheless suffered rejection when put to a voice vote by the Senate President.
Apparently determined to have their way, the Minority Leader, while citing Order 73 of the Senate Rule, called for a division.
In a bid to avert going down the path of a division, the Senate Leader, Yahaya Abdullahi, APC, Kebbi North, prevailed on his colleagues in the PDP to rescind their earlier call. But the appeal was to no avail.
The refusal to back down by the opposition lawmakers, notwithstanding attempts by colleagues to sway members of the minority party during a closed session that followed and lasted almost 20 minutes, persisted.
Rising from the closed session, Abaribe demanded that the contentious clause be revisited despite a couple of further appeal by the Senate President for the upper chamber to continue with the consideration of the report.
Sensing the Minority Leader’s refusal to shift grounds, the Senate President in an unexpected move took Abaribe by surprise and approved the request for division amidst calls for voting on the amendment put forward by Senator Bassey.
Out of a total of 80 Senators present, 52 voted for the retention of the ‘Sabi Abdullahi Amendment’, while 28 who belonged to the opposition PDP voted for the ‘Bassey Amendment’.
The other 28 Senators that make up the 108 in the upper chamber, excluding the Senate President, were absent during the plenary.
After the passage of the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, the Senate President, in his remarks said, “We have achieved what we have set for ourselves because of our commitment. We would all recall that at the beginning of the Ninth Senate, we resolved to have a legislative agenda.
“And in our legislative agenda, the Petroleum Industry Bill and amendment of the Electoral Act 2010 are pillars of what we have set for ourselves to do. Today, we have achieved those two issues. Secondly, the Electoral Act amendment, we have gone through a serious and probably torturous process to reach where we are by passing it.
“There was no victor, no vanquished in this affair. Everyone did what he or she did for the full commitment and realization that what we want is one and the same thing, but the paths we have taken are different. We want an electronic transmission system for our electoral process, however, we want to ensure that no Nigerian is disenfranchised in this process, and time will definitely come when all part of Nigeria will have the coverage that we all need to deploy our technology to ensure electronic transmission of election results.
“This has come to settle the issue of what INEC can do and what INEC cannot. We have given INEC an electoral Act amended to enhance its performance.”
The Senate after the passage of the bill, adopted the Votes and Proceedings and adjourned.
Sadly, the Senate has gone on a break leaving the polity fractured, with anger seething across the land as parties and individuals dig deeper into their entrenched positions.
The Point learnt that the ruling APC had long gone to work before now, rallying all its senators, especially those from the South to toe the party position or face severe sanctions. This, it was learnt, was to checkmate the new found unity and togetherness of the Southern governors who recently have been speaking with one voice contrary to what used to be all these years.
A source told The Point that with the breaking of the ranks of the senators, the governors have been laid bare and vulnerable now to dance to the tune of Abuja.
The Southern Governors’ Forum, at its meeting in Lagos on July 5, called for the retention of the electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act.
Its Chairman and Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, had read a communiqué which stated, “The Southern Governors’ Forum rejects the removal of the Electronic transmission of the election results from the Electoral Act.”
But on Thursday, the upper chamber, in amending about 150 clauses in the 2010 Electoral Act, failed to make transmission of results compulsory in future elections.
“Politics is deep. What happened on Thursday at the National Assembly was an ambush against the southern governors. Whereas, most of the South would readily go for electronic transmission of results, there is no way the North would allow it.
“The inadequacies are too obvious, the disadvantages are too glaring. But they needed to do what will serve their interest, after all politics is all about interest. You cannot blame the North or the APC. It is politics, you have to play it well or be out played.
“The North doesn’t know party or ethnic differences or status when it comes to politics; they know only the North. But the South is not like that. Check out the names of those who voted against electronic transmission of results in from the South, were you not shocked? These are people who claimed to be progressives. And you ask yourself, what again is that definition of a progressive politician,” the source queried.
Taofeek Gani, lawyer and Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, lambasted South West senators who voted against the provision as, “an embarrassment and a disgrace to the region, their states, their claim to education and their profession of progressivism as a political ideology.”
The Peoples Democratic Party which had on Wednesday urged the federal lawmakers to give full backing to electronic transmission of election results, expressed shock on Thursday after the deed was done.
National Publicity Secretary, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, said in Abuja on Thursday that the PDP, and indeed majority of Nigerians, were shocked over the Senate’s rejection of the demand for the electronic transmission of election results.
He noted that the decision undermined Nigeria’s electoral process, saying the action of APC Senators was an “atrocious assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians who looked up to the Senate for improvement in our electoral process in a manner that would engender free, fair and credible process.
“It is outrageous that the APC-led Senate, in the bid to annex the Independent National Electoral Commission, sought to route a statutorily independent commission to the approval of the Nigeria Communication Commission before conducting elections.
“The decision of the APC Senators, therefore, amounts to a suspension of the 1999 constitution (as amended) which is a recipe for crisis that could derail our democracy and destabilize our nation.
“Our party, standing with Nigerians, however, commends the PDP Senators as well as other democratically-minded Senators in the chamber for their resilience in voting for unconditional electronic transmission of results. This is in line with the wishes and aspiration of Nigerians for free, fair, clean and credible election,” the party stated.
