2023 Election: Stormy session in senate over result collation

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2023 Election: Stormy session in senate over result collation

AS the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC continues with the collation of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Senate Tuesday was stormy over the results being churned out by the Commission.

Trouble started on Tuesday soon after the Senators resumed plenary as they resumed today following the 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 that it was 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, Niger East said that since Nigerians did not vote electronically, the issue of asking INEC to release results in 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.”

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 that the Judiciary should not allow itself to be dragged into interfering with the elections.

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

Also supporting Orker- Jef,Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa, PDP, Bauchi North who noted that the Senate should steer clear of the issues due to the controversy surrounding it, 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 stop 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 added that “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 guideline. That is the only solution.”

Also 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, adding, “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.