By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, on Monday decried National Assembly’s rejection of electronic-transmission of elections results through the votes of most members of both chambers of the parliament against that clause in the Electoral Act.
Speaking when he received the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Pastor Monday Udoh-Tom and his management team on an advocacy visit on Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), Okowa said that the lawmakers’ action could be interpreted that there was a plan to rig elections.
He, however, commended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its efforts at ensuring the credibility of the electoral process and for declaring that it had capacity to transmit results electronically.
The governor warned that rejection of electronic transmission of election results could deter the country’s effort at attracting Foreign Direct Investments.
According to him, “we must truly appreciate INEC for the fact that on a daily basis they are thinking of the best ways to move our electoral system forward such that we are able to minimise all possibilities of fraud.
“Once Nigerians trust our electoral process, many Nigerians will come out to register and vote during elections. We need to change the narrative of many Nigerians that whether they vote or not, results will still come out the way they want it.
“I want to specially congratulate the INEC Chairman for coming out to insist that INEC has the capacity to truly transmit election results and I do not see any reason why any Nigerian would want to vote for non-transmission of election results.”
