By Dr Patrick Ibekwe
The Senator representing Abia North, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, is being maligned in some quarters for the position he took during the Senate’s consideration of the report of its Committee on the Electoral Acts Amendment Bill, particularly as pertains the electronic transmission of results from polling units across the country. But what would his critics have him do? Disregard the interest of the good people of Abia North and the entire South just to play to the gallery?
Have Nigerians forgotten what happened with card readers during the 2019 elections ? The southern part of the country especially the South East strictly adhered to the use of card readers while the North almost threw the card readers away and churned out millions of votes . This was done using incidence form where card readers failed while same was not allowed down South. This time around, we will have less than hundreds of thousands of votes from the South East because the people would try to transmit electronically while the North will not even look at it. Not when some of the telecommunications base stations will be burnt by bokoharam or bandits on the eve of the elections and INEC must provide alternative to the voters ; they are Nigerians with constitutional right to vote and be voted for .
The most contentious clause in the bill is section 52(3) which states that “the commission may transmit results of elections by electronic means where and when practicable”. The Senate Deputy Whip, Sabi Abdullahi, while moving that the section be amended, proposed, “The commission may consider electronic transmission provided the national network coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the Nigerian Communications Commission and approved by the National Assembly”.
When Abdullahi’s position was put to vote, 51 senators voted in favour while 28 voted against, with 28 absentees, exclusive of the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan. As an aside, if there is any lawmaker reputed for not missing plenary sittings and other activities of the 9th Senate, that should be Kalu, an accomplished businessman and global citizen.
Before voting against the electronic transmission of results, the former Governor of Abia State and the Chief Whip of the Senate opted to subsume his reality in the general reality of the Abia North people. He stressed that since most villages in his senatorial district do not have network coverage, he cannot vote for an electronic transmission of results that would disenfranchise his people.
It is worthy of note that he wasn’t speaking on the basis of the network coverage in his Igbere village, but was equally concerned about further afield his senatorial district where much of his constituents are cut off from mobile telephone networks, not to talk of the 3G network that can transmit the kind of data the electronic transmission of election results requires.
It is therefore unfortunate that such a true representative who minds the wider interest of his people will become a victim of opprobrium for doing so. Wouldn’t the people of Ihechiowa who don’t have access to 2G network feel betrayed if their Senator voted for an election transmission system that is way above the league of what’s obtainable in their villages? Yet, 2G cannot be guarantee transmission of data which section 52(3) seeks.
To better appreciate Senator Kalu’s recourse to his people’s reality in voting against the electronic transmission of results, we need to know that franchise is an inalienable right of the people. Allowing any system that disenfranchises them will therefore be a great disservice to the same people. To this extent, a representative of the people should not be vilified for standing by his people.
Besides, the 2023 elections are still over a year away; electronic transmission of results is still possible. There is enough time for Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and relevant stakeholders to deepen telephone network penetration across the country. This is to attain a higher percentage of nationwide network coverage than the current coverage level which is less than 50 per cent of the population.
Rather than attacking Senator Orji Kalu and like-minded lawmakers who pointed out the flaw in allowing the electronic transmission of results at this time, they should be allowed to pressure the NCC and network providers to facilitate higher deployment of at least 3G infrastructure across the country. Aside for the elections, this will also be a big opportunity for large swathes of the country to have 3G network.
Experts believe that the massive deployment of 3G network across the country is achievable under six months if given the undivided attention it deserves. With the resultant increased rollout of 3G network in Abia North and other parts of the country, Senator Orji Kalu can be sure to rally his colleagues to amend the electoral act to allow for electronic transmission of results. This is better for the country than approving electronic transmission of results at this time which will necessitate the voting of billions for INEC. Without the requisite nationwide coverage, such monetary votes will only be embezzled by retiring electoral officials.
Meanwhile, standing on another prism to look at Kalu’s real reason for his stand, let’s look at 2019 general elections.
The following represented the result of the 2019 presidential election which shows Abia 323, 291; Imo 511, 586; Ebonyi 359,131;Enugu 421,018; Anambra 605,457 Whereas in the war torn Borno 919,786; Adamawa 811,534; Yobe 601,059; Kano 2,006,410; Kaduna 1,663,608. From the foregoing we have seen that figures shown above does not represent the efforts or the participation of South East in election.
Most electoral act implementations are hugely enforced down South while the North has always had a way of going around this electoral act without affecting the final election result. During the last general election, Many Southerners were disenfranchised because of the unreliability of this device called card reader . Many were told to go home without voting while the voters in the North enforced the use of incident forms to churn out the 2million votes we saw from Kano in 2019 presidential election, their number of registered voters not withstanding.
This is the reason we have to review our position on the NO vote of Senator Orji Uzor kalu as he has seen the negative impact of this electronic submission of result .We are also aware of the devastating effect of Boko haram that has taken destruction of most base stations of telecommunications in the north as a war strategy to cut of communication within the area they have annexed
Just as in 2019, the North will manually submit their result citing burning of telecom base stations as reason whereas the South East will be held back by poor network which may lead to late ,poor or non receipt of the results.
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is a man that understands the Nigerian inner workings and should be appreciated for standing to stop what would have further reduced the impact of the South East participation or measurement of relevance in elections . It is also being used as basis for allotment of portfolios even after the elections. Orji Kalu saved us from been fooled again but hatred and jealousy won’t allow the few critics to understand the deeper reasons .