It’s possible for Senate to vote publicly on real-time e-transmission of election results — Senator Ningi

The senator representing Bauchi Central, Abdul Ningi, has said the Senate can make its voting process on real-time electronic transmission of election results public amid growing controversy surrounding the Electoral Act amendment.
 

Ningi made the remarks during a television interview ahead of the Senate’s emergency plenary session, called in response to public outrage over the handling of provisions on electronic transmission of results after the amendment bill passed its third reading.
 

Asked whether Nigerians could be allowed to see how individual senators voted on the issue, Ningi said the Senate’s rules make such transparency possible.
 

“I think it’s possible. It depends on the presiding officer because the law provides for that,” he said.
“You can stand up and say, ‘I, Ningi, I accept e-transmission in real time.’ I sit down. It’s recorded for every other senator, and that is the only way we need to move forward.”
 

He argued that part of the confusion stemmed from the way proceedings were handled, insisting that proper records of votes and debates must be examined.
 

“One thing that is very important is that the votes and proceedings have not been captured. So tomorrow, we need to look at what the votes and proceedings captured are,” Ningi said.
 

“There was a motion for amendment by Manguno, and then the question was put. Who asked the question? Why was the question raised? Was it discussed?”
 

Ningi added that senators were not adequately briefed before the decision was taken.
 

“One of the reasons why people are unhappy is that the Senate President should have asked us as a committee, ‘Please, educate us on this issue that Manguno has raised,’” he said.

He also dismissed claims that the controversy was driven by party politics.
 

“I’m here, and I’m telling you with all sense of responsibility that this is not a party thing. It has never been a party thing,” Ningi said.
“If tomorrow the Senate President decides to say, ‘Is it transfer or transmission?’ and the gavel is sealed on transfer, then the majority have their way.”
 

The lawmaker expressed frustration over what he described as blanket condemnation of the entire Senate.
 

“I feel so sad and outraged when I see people condemning the Senate in its entirety,” he said. “That’s why we need to tell the story. I can tell you that about 98 per cent of the senators agree with the position taken by the House.”
 

According to him, governors across party lines have also supported electronic transmission of results. “APC governors have made their submissions. PDP governors too. They are all saying e-transmission,” he said.
 

The Senate has faced intense criticism since it rejected a proposal to make real-time electronic transmission of election results mandatory in the amended Electoral Act.
 

The rejected clause would have required presiding officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission to transmit polling unit results directly to the IREV portal in real time after results were signed.
 

Instead, the Senate retained the existing provision allowing results to be transferred “in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.”
 

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has defended the decision, saying the word “real-time” was removed to avoid legal complications in cases of network failure.
 

“All we said was that we should remove the word ‘real-time,’” Akpabio said. “If there is network failure and you go to court, someone will argue it ought to have been real-time.”
 

Despite the explanation, protests erupted in Abuja, with demonstrators demanding that lawmakers explicitly include “real-time electronic transmission” in the amended law.