President Tinubu on Wednesday signed the amendments to the 2022 Electoral Act into law, saying he had followed the debate on the document at the National Assembly closely.
He commended its leadership for managing the process very well, “to the extent there has been no confusion, no disenfranchisement of Nigerians, and that we are all going to see democracy flourish.”
According to the President, “the essence of democracy is to have very solid brainstorming discussions committed to national development, nation-building, and the stability of the nation.
“It is time that we have confidence in our system. No matter how good the system is, it’s managed by the people, promoted by the people, and the people finalise the results.”
Speaking on the ‘controversy’ preceding its passage, President Tinubu affirmed that humans still have a significant role to play in finalizing results, as computers can’t do everything, given that many aspects of the voting process are still largely manual.
“And when you look at the crux of various arguments, maybe Nigerians should question our broadband capability. How technically sound are we today? How technically sound will we be tomorrow in answering the call, whether in real time or not?
“And as long as you appear personally as a manual voter in any polling booth, a ballot paper is given to you manually. You decide in a corner and fingerprint the person you choose. You cast your vote without hindrance or interference.
“Ballots are subsequently counted manually. It’s just the arithmetic accuracy that is entered into it from easy thinking. It is still manual, essentially.
“The transmission of that manual result is what we’re looking at. And we need to avoid glitches, interference, and unnecessary hacking in this age of computer inquisitiveness. Nigeria will be there,” he said.
In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio described today (Wednesday) as a truly significant day, with the two major religions commencing their fasting seasons.
He said the two chambers worked tirelessly on it for two years “to make sure that we met the right time, so that INEC can do the necessary procurements and bring out the right timetable for next year’s election.
“We have also ensured that we provided a lot of clauses in the amendment that will enable you to conduct free and fair elections in Nigeria that will be acceptable to the international community and all Nigerians, that will meet the yearnings and aspirations of all Nigerians as democrats.
He acknowledged that, though some members disagreed with the decision on the Bill, it was the beauty of democracy.
“At the end, we all came together, and this is the final product. As soon as you sign this, you will have made history as the first president to introduce electronic transmission of results from the polling units to the entire world.
“We have the IReV now, which is a portal for viewing. It allows you to see what is happening across all polling units. Even if you don’t have a network, shortly after that, if you take it to a networked location, it will sync, and people will still have the opportunity to view.
“So, we have made all the necessary inclusions to ensure that Nigerians are going to be happy, the international community will be happy, and it will make the elections also easy for INEC to do,” the Senate President said.
He commended Nigerians of all walks of life for their interest, cooperation, support, and prayers towards meeting their yearnings.
Also present at the signing ceremony were the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, his deputy, Benjamin Kalu, some principal officers of the National Assembly, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, Sen. Basheer Lado.
