Electoral Act said INEC must transfer results from polling unit; but aggrieved parties should go to court: Senate President
Ahmed Lawan on Tuesday said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had violated the lawful procedure of transferring election results to INEC portal from polling units.
The Senate President, however, said the top legislative chamber does not have regulatory oversight over the aberration.
Mr Lawan stated his position as the Senate resumed plenary amidst growing controversy over the ongoing collation of the 2023 presidential election results.
Following nationwide condemnation that has trailed the process of the election, All Progressives Congress (APC) Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe moved a motion on the need to call for calm nationwide in order to allow the electoral commission to conclude the process and pass its verdict. Mr Oloriegbe’s motion also urged the house to follow the rule of law in airing their grievances.
“The Senate should urge all political actors, leaders and every Nigerian to remain calm and allow collation and announcement of the presidential and National Assembly elections to proceed based on the provisions of the electoral act,” he said.
Commenting on the motion after kickback from opposition lawmakers, Mr Lawan reiterated that electronic transfer of results from polling units remains the valid way of compiling results. In cases where present votes differ from the ones captured by the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), he reiterated that such votes are unlawful.
“What we have passed, and I can recollect this vividly, is to transfer, after all the paper works that we normally do are done, Mr Lawan said. “The agents and everybody there, security, everybody will have the papers, INEC will snap or scan the result sheet and transfer, transmit.’’
“Whether it is transmit or transfer, it is that thing that is captured with BVAS – the results.”
Mr Lawan, however, said anyone who has grounds to doubt the credibility of the process may seek judicial redress.
“…If any result that was captured and sent differs from something voted somewhere, that one is illegal and only the courts, it’s not us here, that can do [something], so we ask INEC to follow the electoral acts and other laws or guidelines,” he added.
Opposition political parties like the Labour and PDP have rejected the results, saying INEC failed to follow the electoral guidelines after polls closed in the nationwide exercise on Saturday afternoon.
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