Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on Sunday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of avoiding electronic transmission of results in election in his decline to sign the Electoral Act Amendment Bill.
Governor Wike speaking on Channels Television, on Sunday, had declared that “contrary to claims that the President is holding back due to the quagmire over direct and indirect primaries as embedded in the bill, the main issue remains the electronic transmission of results.”
According to the governor: “The ruling party in their conspiracy is trying to deceive Nigerians that the mere inclusion of the direct primaries in the electoral act amendment bill is the problem why the President does not want to sign or why he has refused to sign.
“The major issue is the transmission, the electronic transmission of results.”
The Rivers Governor, according to Channels TV, maintained: “The issue is this, Mr. President signed the Petroleum Industry Bill and sent it back for an amendment of the bill.
“If Mr. President means well for this country and as he has promised Nigerians that he wants to conduct free and fair elections, then nothing stops Mr. President from acceding to this amendment and then seeking an amendment as regards the direct/indirect mode of conducting the primaries of various political parties.
“So, if anybody tells you that ab initio, APC had wanted to support the electronic transmission of results of the 2023 election, that person must be a joker because I do know that in 2018/2019, why the President did not sign was because of card-readers. Mr. President was told, “if you sign that, it will lead to your failure of the election.”