The House of Representatives has passed the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill, maintaining the controversial Clause 52(2) that allows the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to determine when, where and how voting and transmission of results will be done.
Clause 52(2) reads, “Voting at an election and transmission of result under this bill shall be in accordance with the procedure determined by the commission.”
The Senate, on Thursday, passed the electoral bill after removed the powers of INEC to transmit election results electronically.
It was also a rowdy session in the red chamber as senators threw decorum to the winds and charged at each other on the practicability or otherwise of transmitting election results electronically.
The approval followed an amendment to Clause 52(3) by Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC, Niger) and seconded by Senator Ali Ndume (APC, Borno South).
On Friday at the House, there was also rowdiness as the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase, skipped Section 52 where consideration of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill was suspended on Thursday.
After asking officials of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) series of questions, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila said the information from the agency would guide the lawmakers on the controversial Clause 52(2) which is about voting and transmission of election results.
The House reverted to the Committee of the Whole, which was presided over by Wase, to continue with the consideration.
Wase, however, called for a vote from Clause 54, which generated protests.
The Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechukwu, raised a point of order to recall that the session on Thursday was halted when the consideration got to Clause 52. He also recalled that several members called for division of the House, which Wase overruled.
Wase, however, denied blocking division of the House, adding that Clause 52 had already been voted on and passed.
Recall that Wase had ruled that the nays had it even when the ayes were louder than the nays, a development that ended normalcy in the chamber.
The House is currently making inquiries from top officials of the INEC and NCC, who are addressing the lawmakers in plenary, on the possibility of transmitting election results electronically from every part of the country.
Passage of the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill at the House was stalled on Thursday, forcing the chamber to continue consideration of its clauses today.
The National Assembly does not hold plenary on Friday and the House was to begin the two-month annual recess on Thursday, but for the development.
The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had to adjourn plenary till Friday when INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu; and Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, are to brief the chamber on the implication of having election results transmitted electronically.
