Stormy session in Senate over INEC result collation

•NASS didn’t pass electronic transmission in Electoral Act — APC Senators

 AS the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, continued with the collation of results of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections,

The Senate was stormy over the results being churned out by the INEC yesterday.

Trouble started soon after the senators resumed plenary, after a break to enable them participate fully in the polls. When Senator   Ibrahim Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central) raised a motion on the need to call for calm and appeal to political parties, stakeholders and Nigerians to abide by the rule of law on the electoral process in the just concluded election. 

In his presentation, Oloriegbe, who came under Orders 41 and 51 of the Senate Standing, as amended, however, urged all political actors, leaders, and every Nigerian to remain calm and allow the collation and announcement of the presidential and National Assembly elections to proceed based on the provisions of the electoral act.

Oloriegbe was supported   by other senators in the All Progressive Congress, APC, who noted that it was very important for the Upper Chamber to bring calm to the raging storm among political parties.

The chamber was charged when opposition senators, led by Senator Betty Apiafi ( PDP, Rivers West)   said that   it was wrong to bring up the issues at such a “critical time.”

Apiafi said  it is not  in the place of the Senate to prescribe what the guidelines should be.

At this point, while the APC   senators wanted the motion and the prayers to be heard, the opposition senators disagreed.

In his contribution, Senator Sani Musa,  (APC, Niger East) said since Nigerians did not vote electronically, the issue of asking INEC to release results real-time was unnecessary, against the backdrop that the Electoral Act did not mandate the electoral umpire to do so.

Senator Musa said:  “It is very clear that accreditation and verification are to be done by the BVAS. We are not voting electronically for that real-time transmission to happen. Transmission can only happen after it has been published on BVAS. So it is not real-time. We are not a court to interpret but INEC has a responsibility to stick to guidelines.

“It is a simple process and that process after publishing, they send it to back-end servers and it is after then that INEC can put it on IREV. INEC has been attacked over 160 times and nobody has been making any issue about that.”

Nigerians should be patient with INEC

Also in his contribution, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC,   Ekiti Central) who noted that  Nigerians should be patient for INEC to complete the process, while also calling on the judiciary to do the right thing, said the Judiciary should not allow itself to be dragged into interfering with the elections.

In his contribution, Emmanuel Orker-Jev, (PDP, Benue North West) who supported Apiafi, noted that it is best for the Red Chamber to maintain neutrality on the issue.

“The best way is to step down this Order because if we are already generating this kind of controversy, imagine what will happen out there,’’ he said.

Senate should be neutral

Also supporting Orker- Jef,Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa (PDP, Bauchi North), said the Senate should steer clear of the issues due to the controversy surrounding it.

He said: “Whatever happens in the collation centre and the social media, the Senate should not be involved in it.

“We passed the Electoral Act and for goodness sake, if we don’t step this motion down, there will be endless controversy on party lines and God knows what it will generate in the public domain.”

On his part, Senate Minority Whip, Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP, Enugu North), said:  “I think we have exhaustively looked at issues concerned here. As a parliament, it is our duty to stabilize the polity to calm the nerves of people that are agitated as a result of the last election on 25th February.

“We are here to appeal to our people to follow the law and we are asking all the agencies of government to follow what the law stipulates.”

Also, the Anambra Central senator, Uche Ekwenife, said:  “This is a very controversial matter; everywhere is tense, and people are very apprehensive. The only way out of it is for INEC to stick to the Constitution and the Electoral Act. INEC should stick to their guidelines. That is the only solution.”

In her contribution, Senator Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti South), said:   “This process is still an ongoing process and INEC should follow its guidelines and the Electoral Law. 

‘’We should not ignite violence and the best way is to ask everybody to maintain peace and order, while we go through this process and finish it properly.”

In his remarks, the President of the   Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, explained   that in the Electoral Act they passed, there was nothing like electronics transmission.

According to him, electronics transmission is when votes are transmitted to the server.

“What we have passed I read through it when it was a bill several times, is to transfer after all the paper work that we normally do are done.

“The agents and everybody there including security will have the papers. INEC will snap or scan the result sheet and transfer and that is what is captured with BVAS as the results.

“For me my understanding is if any result that is captured and sent differs from something gotten somewhere, that one is illegal.

“It is Only the court that can determine that it is not us here.   So we urge INEC to follow the provisions of the Electoral Act,’’ Lawan said.

STATE  APC   LP    NNPP PDP

•EKITI   201,494  11,397  264  89,554

•ONDO   369,925 47,350 930  115,463

•KWARA  263,572  31,166  3,141 113,909

•OSUN  343,945 23,283 713 354,366

•OGUN 341,554  85,829  2,200 123,831

•LAGOS  572,606  582,454  8,442 75,759

•OYO   449,884  99,110 4095 182,977

•YOBE   151,459 2, 406  18,270  198,567

•A/IBOM   160,620 132,683 7,796  214,012

•ADAMAWA 182,881  105,648 8,006 417,611

•ENUGU  4772      428,640 1,808  15,749

•GOMBE  146,977 26,160  10,520 319,123                         

•JIGAWA  421,390  1,889  98,234 386,587

•KATSINA   482,283  6,376   69,386 489,045 

•NASARAWA 172,922  191,361 12,715 147,093

•BENUE  310, 468 308,372 4,740 130,081

•FCT   90,902   281,717  4,517 74,194

•EDO   144,471, 331,163 2,743 89,585

•ABIA  8,914    327,095  1,239 22,676 

•KOGI    240,751 56,217 4,238 145,104  

•BAUCHI    316,694 27,373 72,103 426,607

•TARABA 135,165 146,315 12,818 189,017

•PLATEAU  301,195 466,272  8,869 243,808

•KADUNA 399,293 294,494 92,969 554,360

•KEBBI  248,088 10,682  5,036 285,175

•KANO   517,341  28,513 997,279  131,716 

•ZAMFARA  298,396  1,660  4,044 193,978

•SOKOTO   285,444  6,568  1,300 288,679   

•NIGER 375,183 80452 21836 284,898

Culled from Vanguard