The senator representing Anambra Central, Victor Umeh, says more than 85 percent of senators supported the electronic transmission of election results during deliberations on amendments to the Electoral Act.
On Wednesday, the senate upheld the provision for electronic transmission of results as contained in the Electoral Act 2022.
However, the upper chamber turned down proposals for real-time transmission of results and a 10-year ban on vote buying, choosing instead to retain the existing penalties of fines or jail terms.
The clarification followed public backlash after reports claimed lawmakers rejected electronic transmission and tougher punishments for electoral offences.
Speaking on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’, Umeh said such reports misrepresented the senate’s decision.
He explained that the resolution was the outcome of a detailed legislative process involving readings, consultations and public hearings across the country.
“It takes a process to make a law. A bill must go through readings, public hearings and consultations before debate and passage. Law is not made by the national assembly alone. It is made by carrying Nigerians along,” he said.
Umeh noted that the controversy surrounding the 2023 general elections raised public expectations that amendments to the electoral law would improve credibility and trust in future polls.
According to him, the amendment of Clause 60 of the Electoral Act 2022, which addresses result transmission, received unanimous backing during senate consultations.
He said the matter featured prominently during retreats, zonal public hearings and joint sessions held by the national assembly on the bill.
“It is good to say that in all these retreats, all these zonal public hearings, all the consultations and joint sessions we had, one issue received unanimous approval and demand from the public, and that is to amend Clause 60 of the Electoral Act of 2022 as it affects transmission of results,” he said.
Umeh stressed that stakeholders agreed to clearly provide for electronic transmission to prevent future legal disputes.
“It is based on these that all the stakeholders decided that this amendment will provide for the electronic transmission of results, so that where there is a dispute again, the court will not say that it is unknown to law,” he said.
The senator added that both chambers worked independently on the amendment, noting that the house of representatives had already passed its version with explicit provisions for electronic transmission.
Addressing claims that the provision was removed during plenary, Umeh said no such discussion took place.
“Of course, it was debated exhaustively, because their committee retained the electronic transmission of results on what they brought back to the senate,” he said.
“Over 85 percent of senators agreed to electronic transmission. It was common ground. Even the ad hoc committee of the senate agreed to it.”
He dismissed reports that the provision was later expunged, insisting the issue never came up for debate.
“Eventually, I heard that somebody said they want to expunge ‘transmission’ and somebody seconded. It was not debated,” he said.
“If such a major alteration to what has been generally agreed to were to come up again, it would be thrown open again. We didn’t debate anything like that.”
Umeh concluded that results from polling units will be transmitted electronically to IReV, adding that the only agreed change was the removal of the phrase “in real-time” due to concerns over possible technical delays.