Two PDP senators, Gershom Bassey (Cross River South) and Abba Moro (Benue South) yesterday faulted the argument of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on the provisions of the Electoral Act regarding the electronic transmission of results.
They said the act mandates the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically from polling units to its central server.
Lawan had, during plenary on Tuesday, said there was no provision for the electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Act.
He said the parliament only made provision for the transfer of results from the polling units to the INEC server.
Briefing newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Senator Moro lamented that the INEC went ahead to announce the results of last Saturday’s elections despite local and foreign outcry due to substantial non-conformity with the Electoral Act regarding the electronic transmission of results.
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Moro said, “By the passage of the Electoral Act, BVAS should be able to transmit electronically from the polling unit to the server in the INEC office.
“When it gets to the wards, it is supposed to transmit to the local government and later to the state. It is expected that when this sequence is followed, we can guarantee the transparency in the system.”
Senator Bassey also corroborated the submission of Moro, saying, “The key element of the process is that when the results are collated at the unit level, they should be uploaded to the server which must be accessible to everyone.
“It is the leg upon which the transparency of the INEC stands. We are saying that the process has been compromised because many polling units have not been uploaded and it is a major flaw of the election.”
Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives from Rivers State, Hon. Doctor Farah Dagogo, has urged Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to challenge the results of last Saturday’s presidential election in court.
Dagogo, who represents Degema/Bonny Federal Constituency in the lower chamber of the National Assembly, in a statement yesterday, said, “This election lacks transparency and credibility. I will advise and strongly urge my party, the PDP, and our presidential candidate, the Wazirin Adamawa, Atiku Abubakar, to challenge the outcome in court.”
By Abdullateef Salau (Abuja) & Victor Edozie (Port Harcourt)
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