ABUJA — The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected the resolution of the National Assembly on the need for it to seek the approval of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to transmit election results electronically.
INEC also argued that the decision of the National Assembly to subject its constitutional power to conduct elections to the NCC was absolutely unconstitutional.
During the debate on Section 52(3) of the Electoral Amendment Act Bill, the section dealing with the electronic transmission of election results, the lawmakers had asked INEC to seek the approval of the NCC before going pon with e-transmission of results.
Speaking with media executives at the quarterly meeting of INEC in Abuja, the National Commissioner of the Commission and Chairman of Electoral Operations and Logistic Committee, Professor Okechukwu Ibeanu, said that rather than seeking the approval of the NCC, INEC has the constitutional power to impose duties on the NCC in order to achieve the electronic transmission of results.
He said, “That is absolutely unconstitutional. You cannot ask INEC to seek the approval of another agency of government to transmit results electronically when actually INEC has the power to impose duties on NCC to achieve electronic transmission of results.
“I completely agree that in the context of underscoring the independence of the commission, section 160 of the Constitution has done everything it needs to do. What is left is for INEC to use the power it has under the constitution to achieve its aim.”
Earlier, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System would replace the Smart Card Reader and Z-pad, adding that it would take care of the challenges of over-voting and double voting.
He also spoke on the Anambra State governorship election scheduled for November 6, saying, “In the next few days, the commission will compile the register of new voters and publish same throughout the state for claims and objections.”
