By Dike Chukwumerije
“INEC MAY transmit results electronically WHEN AND WHERE PRACTICABLE.” This is the phrase. It is self-explanatory, which means that I should not have to write about it. But Senators like Opeyemi Bamidele (Ekiti), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia), Ali Ndume (Yobe), Ovie Omo Agege (Delta), Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa), Uba Sani (Kaduna) say that writing this phrase into our electoral law would disenfranchise all voters living in areas where the electronic transmission of results is not practicable today. And I thought – But that is not what the phrase says.
Because ‘MAY’ is not ‘SHALL’. It means INEC does not have to transmit results electronically, except it decides it is practicable to do so. It means that in areas where electronic transmission of votes is not possible, INEC will transmit results in the same way it does today. That is, by carrying the result physically from the polling unit, to the local government, to the Senatorial District, to the State, and then to Abuja. It means that even in areas where electronic transmission is practicable, INEC will, after sending these results electronically, still transmit them physically, since we will need the physical results to compare the electronically transmitted results against. You see? It means that there is no scenario – if the phrase is passed into law – under which any voter would be disenfranchised.
Because, in truth, that phrase has NOTHING to do with the right, or access, to vote. That remains sacrosanct. That phrase is about creating a secondary way of cross-checking the original figures entered in at the polling unit against the ones we find at the collation centre. That phrase is about making it easier to detect when figures have changed in the course of moving from polling unit to Abuja. That phrase is about setting up another layer of checks against one of the more notorious ways of rigging in modern Nigeria. You see? That phrase is about freer and fairer elections. So, when I saw two senators from Lagos – a cosmopolitan city-state, which a few months ago overtook Nairobi as the tech start-up capital of Africa – voting against this phrase on the argument that it would disenfranchise voters in Lagos residing in areas outside network coverage, I thought to myself – This is interesting.
You see? It is like saying let us not allow the use of POS anywhere in Nigeria until the use of POS is possible everywhere in Nigeria. You know? It is like arguing that if you give customers in Abuja the option of using POS to buy things from Garki market you will, by so doing, be preventing customers in my village from continuing to use cash to buy things from the market there. You see? It makes no sense. But, of course, the party in power cannot just come out and say – ‘as the party best positioned to rig (if it must happen), and benefit from rigging (if it must happen), we want to keep all options on the table’. Of course, the party in power cannot just come out and say this. And so they invent an argument that gives you headaches when trying to follow it to its logical conclusion. You know? That by allowing INEC to also transmit results electronically, where possible, you are giving INEC the power to refuse to conduct elections in areas where electronic transmission is not practicable. Imagine?
It is because of this strange reasoning, that the Senator representing Niger North decided to propose a different phrase. He said let us insert into our laws a different phrase. This one: “INEC may consider electronic transmission of results provided there is national coverage as adjudged by the National Communications Commission (NCC) and approved by the National Assembly.” Ok. It is only that the ‘I’ – constitutionally provided – in INEC stands for ‘Independent’. And this new phrase makes INEC very dependent on the NCC and the National Assembly in making operational decisions for the conduct of elections. You see? It is like asking the Military not to deploy its latest fighter jets in the fight against bandits in Zamfara until it has formal clearance from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, with the approval of the National Assembly, that the weather is safe for flying everywhere in Nigeria. You see? It makes little sense.
Because, in a diverse society, free and fair elections is the only alternative we have to conflict. For this reason, it must be faced with urgency, particularly on days like this when the dogs of war are straining at the leash. Any opportunity to improve the system – to make it more transparent – must be taken with two hands. But, sadly, this is the paradox of change. That when the oppressed finally breaks into power – into the inner sanctum of his former oppressor, and finds himself now on the throne – there, he starts to come to new understandings of the benefits of maintaining the same system he once railed against. You see? This is the paradox of change. That it is difficult for beneficiaries of a flawed system to fundamentally reform it. Yes. How did Fashola put it? May your loyalty never be tested. In truth, it is a futile prayer. For on the path to paradise, it will, it must. Get ready.
