Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the 2023 elections and human rights activist, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, has said that the Senate deliberately refused to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory because lawmakers are “covering up in advance” for what will happen in courtrooms in the future.
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In a monitored interview, Sowore explained that the National Assembly does not want judges to be constrained by definitive language when election disputes arise.
Sowore explained the implication of the Senate’s position on electronic transmission.
“What they did was to be clever by half by saying that wherever there is no opportunity to transmit, they will accept the hard copy. What that means, when you deal with these characters, is that they will always go to court and say this is not mandatory. The judges will rule that there is no provision in the law that says it is mandatory,” he stated.
The activist revealed what he believes is the real motive behind the lawmakers’ actions.
“What I suspect, and I know these people well, is that they are not worried about you or the public. They are covering up in advance for what will happen in courtrooms in the future. They don’t want a situation where judges are hamstrung by a definitive word,” Sowore said.
Sowore insisted on what must be done to protect electoral integrity.
“What we are saying here is that the language of the Electoral Act must make electronic transmission mandatory. Wherever that is violated, there must be credible evidence or excuse provided. And the burden of proof should not be on those who are being rigged out of elections. That is exactly what they are trying to avoid,” he stated.
On whether Nigerians should trust the National Assembly to harmonise the Senate and House positions, Sowore was emphatic.
“Obviously, we can’t trust them. Even when these two positions are harmonised, which is what they said they would do, we still have to comb through the fine print of what is in the final law they are going to pass,” he said.
Sowore dismissed the excuse that there is no network in nine states.
“They don’t want to make it mandatory. The excuse is that there is no network in nine states. In essence, if you don’t make it mandatory, they can just shut down all the networks in the country.
“They don’t want transparent elections because they know that if elections are transparent, 90 per cent of them will not make it to the National Assembly, the presidency and other elected positions,” he stated.
Sowore described the INEC Result Viewing Portal as limited in its usefulness.
“If you listened to me at the rally or protest, I said that even in the best of circumstances, IREV is a portal for viewing either rigged or unrigged election results. That is the truth. But for those who believe in incremental progress, they are saying that even at that, let us be able to view these results as soon as they are collated so that nothing happens overnight, because a lot of things happen after people have gone to sleep,” he said.
Sowore advocated for electronic voting as practiced in India.
“India has 900 million registered voters and they use electronic voting as their way of expressing the wishes of the people, and those systems are almost foolproof. I don’t think you hear a lot of tribunal sittings in India after 900 million people vote, and we have only about 90 million people here.
“I attended a meeting between the INEC chairman and political parties last week, and he said he had been to India and the Indians asked him why Nigeria was wasting time with BVAS. The only country in the world using BVAS is Nigeria,” he revealed.
Sowore commented on former APC members and ministers joining the protests.
“They are politicians. I wasn’t surprised. We welcome them and the new activists, but they are fair-weather friends of the activist community. They will do this briefly and then return to their comfort zones.
“I also saw Lauretta Onochie, one of the most rabid supporters of Buhari during his eight years in power. This is not the real test of activism. I am sure their police friends decided not to use tear gas because they were present. If this was Sowore protesting alone, you would have seen a different police response,” he stated.
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