Prof. Benjamin Okaba, Global President of the IJaw National Congress (INC), has said that the Senate did not reject electronic transmission of results but rejected accountability in elections.
Okaba, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Abuja on Friday, said;” the senate rejected finality.
“They rejected the simple, powerful idea that the vote cast by the citizen in the sunlight should be the same vote that is counted at the end of the journey.
“They have, therefore, placed a heavier burden upon all of us. The fight for credible elections has just moved from the floor of the senate back to the polling units and the streets,” he said.
He noted that the question before the senate was not a technical one, not about servers, or 4G networks, or the cost of BVAS machines.
“The question put before the Senate and the answer they have now given is a profound one.
“Do we, as a nation, have the political will to irrevocably leash the monsters of electoral fraud that have haunted our democracy for generations?
“Their answer delivered is a deafening No. What they rejected was not a mere clause in a bill. They rejected a fundamental safeguard.
“They chose the comfort of the old, opaque ways over the demanding light of transparency.
“The senate’s choice is a retreat from electoral integrity on the eve of an election year,” he said.
The INC global president said however his reaction was not one of surprise, but of profound disappointment.
According to him, the senate has had a choice between strengthening democracy’s foundations and strengthening the grip of old-order politics. They have chosen the latter.
“It is now our duty to be the safeguard what they refused to legislate.”
He said further, that it would have been the law, not a requirement, not a suggestion.
“The moment the polling unit result is signed and announced to the people present, it is immediately uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
“This creates an immutable, public digital fingerprint. The purpose is to make the will of the people, expressed at the polling unit, sacrosanct.
“To destroy the lucrative and corrupt industry of ‘collation arithmetic’ at the ward, local government, and state levels.
“But the path the senate chose to keep us is discretionary and delayed transmission, that is it remains at the discretion of INEC. The law provides no firm anchor,” he said.
He added that it was not an oversight but a strategy saying the implications were twofold.
He said that firstly the country just saw practical governance failure, a historic missed opportunity as groups like Yiaga Africa have stated plainly that the senate decision would weaken every single guardrail for credible elections.
“This is because it is a direct betrayal of the public trust that surged after the 2022 Electoral Act was passed.
“The senate, in its wisdom, has looked at the widespread practice of altering results between the polling unit and the collation center and said, the system for preventing this does not need to be made legally foolproof.
“They shortened key electoral schedules pushing parties and INEC into a frantic rush, while simultaneously removing a key transparency measure that would speed up and sanitise the result management process.
“Secondly, the opposition PDP, Labour Party have called the senate decision what it is ‘a retrogressive step’ ‘a shameful betrayal.”
“They argue, with compelling evidence, that this protects the incumbent and the powerful, and actively favors the architecture of rigging.
“Yet the senate President, Godswill Akpabio said the senate did not reject e-transmission.
“A clever, legalistic deflection. They did not need to reject it; they merely ensured it remains vulnerable, discretionary, and legally weak. They retained the word while gutting its force. This is not a defence, it is a confession,” he added.
Okaba also said that the whole development had exposed the roadmap to 2027 as the nation stood in the election year.
The 2027 elections, he said, would be conducted under the same fragile legal provision that produced the crisis of confidence we are still grappling with today.
“This decision pours petrol on the flames of voter apathy. It tells the young, the hopeful, the reform-minded that the system is not serious about changing for you.
“Without the armor of a strong law, the entire weight of electoral integrity now falls on two frail pillars.
“The personal resolve of INEC leadership under unimaginable pressure, and the superhuman, round-the-clock vigilance of party agents and observers at every collation center nationwide,” he further said.
By Deborah Coker
