Moghalu berates NASS over exclusion of e-transmission of results in amended electoral act

Professor Kingsley Moghalu, a presidential candidate in the 2019 elections has berated members of the National Assembly over the exclusion of electronic transmission of election results in the amended controversial Electoral Act. Moghalu in a statement declared that Nigeria does not need the National Assembly to guide or direct some operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The National Assembly had given discretionary powers to the INEC for determination when to adopt electronic transmission of election results, which would subsequently be endorsed by the National Assembly.

Moghalu, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in a media interaction on Sunday declared: “we don’t need the National Assembly trying to micromanage INEC or trying to subject INEC to yet another body of government.”

Moghalu noted that network services are not peculiar to Nigeria, stating that “there is nowhere in the world, not even in the United States or advanced countries, where electronic coverage is 100 percent all the time.”

He narrated: “There are places in the US, when you are traveling, you may not have a network, it doesn’t mean that electronic transmission of results will not be able to work. The INEC itself has assured you that they have different alternative ways as backups to ensure a fair outcome for everybody in the country no matter what part of the country you are in.

“That assurance from the body that the constitution has given the mandate to see to it that our elections are credible should be enough.”

Moghalu admonished the National Assembly to eschew from making laws outside the prescriptions of the constitution.

He argued that the decision of the National Assembly members on electronic transmission of results “is not a sensible one and does not promote good faith”. He maintained that INEC is an independent electoral body and as such, it cannot be subjected to the say-so of another body of government. According to him, “it is absurd that the Senate seeks to be a referee in a match in which it is also a player.”