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The Senate President, Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan on Tuesday clarified that the Electoral Act 2022 did not provide for electronic transmission of election results as being demanded by some Nigerians for 2023 election results.
Speaking while contributing to a motion sponsored by Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe (APC, Kwara Central) on the controversies trailing the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections, Lawan said that what was passed by the National Assembly was snapping of election results and transferring to the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
This was even as the motion, which centred on the need for calm and appeal to political parties, stakeholders and Nigerians to abide by the rule of law on the election process in the just concluded election, triggered a heated debate among the senators.
While senators belonging to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, supported debate on the motion, those in the opposition kicked against it.
The Senate President said: “In the Electoral Act that we passed, there is nothing like the electoral transmission. What we have passed is to transfer all the paper works that we normally do while the agents and everybody there have the papers.
“INEC will now scan or snap the result sheets and transfer them. We urge INEC to follow the Electoral Act and other laws on their guidelines.
“In this chamber, we are not going to interpret the Electoral Act. This is not a court of law. We are just to guide this debate and talk about the general principles of how this election and declaration should be done. There is no need to stress ourselves.
“What we are doing is to urge INEC to follow the law and the citizens should be calm.”
In his motion, Senator Oloriegbe asked the Senate to urge all political actors, leaders and every Nigerian to remain calm and allow collation and announcement of the Presidential and National Assembly elections result to continue based on the provisions of the Electoral Act.
