E-TRANSMISSION: SUSTAIN PRESSURE ON SENATE, FG INEC.... Onuesoke Urges Media, Nigerians

Sunny Onuesoke

"The attempt by the Senators to impose their laws on the commission under disguise of electoral law amendment is unconstitutional".... Onuesoke.

Amid the clamour for the sustenance of the e-transmission of results of the 2023 general elections, prominent personalities have continued to insist that global standards must be adopted in conducting elections.

In actualizing this, the media and Nigerians in general have been urged to sustain the pressure on the Federal Government, members of the Senate of the National Assembly and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the merit of electronic transmission of voters’ results in the coming 2023 polls.

Making this call is Chief Sunny Onuesoke, a respected voice in the political sphere and calculations in Delta state, South-south Nigeria.

Onuesoke, who also aspired for the Governorship seat in Delta state under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP made his stance known in Warri, the commercial capital of the oil rich Delta state on Tuesday.

It will be recalled that some members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP in the National Assembly rejected the electronic transmission of voters’ results in the amended Electoral Act.

According to Chief Onuesoke, "with the rejection of electronic transmission of votes by the lawmakers, it is the duty of Nigerians and the media, as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, to rescue the hapless masses from their oppressive representation".

The PDP chieftain described the action of APC Senators in particular, as an assault on the sensibilities of Nigerians, who had looked up to them for improvement in the electoral process in a manner that would engender a free, fair and credible process.

"The Senators’ claim that the Nigeria Communication Commission NCC, had declared that only 43% of the country was currently under effective telecommunications coverage was false". He said.

He noted that evidences abound that GSM phones are used in all the remote villages of Nigeria including the forest where Boko Haram, ISWAP and bandits are operating from.

“Even if the NCC’s claims by the Senators are true, we have to start from somewhere and improve on it, instead of relying on manual method of transferring election results which gives room to manipulations", he pointed out.

“In Nigeria, we use GSM network in transferring money, pay different kinds of bills, register JAMB, WEAC, NIM, voters and other activities. Even Boko Haram, ISWAP and bandits use GSM to communicate with relatives of abducted victims in the remote forests. Why can’t INEC use it to transfer election results? He queried.

“Even INEC had countered NASS saying that nationwide transmission of electronic results is possible. Then, what is the problem of the Senators? Did they have to tell INEC how to go about its own affairs? Why are they interfering in INEC’s constitutional right at the expense of the masses who are yawning for the electronic transfer of results? He further  queried.

Describing the Senators’ action as meddling in the affairs of INEC, he insisted that the attempt by the Senators to impose their laws on the commission under disguise of electoral law amendment is unconstitutional.