Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, has praised the National Assembly for allowing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to decide on the deployment of electronic voting and the transmission of results.
The governor described the National Assembly Joint Committee’s decision to allow the electoral umpire to electronically transmit election results as a positive development for Nigeria and democracy.
Governor Wike said this in Port Harcourt yesterday in response to the Senate’s decision to reverse its earlier stance against electronic results transmission.
He said: “I think it is good news to hear that the Joint Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate agreed for INEC to transmit results electronically. That is good news to hear. Like I have always said, what is important now is what do people want? The moment you do what the people want, you’ll see happiness everywhere.”
Many countries had progressed beyond manual result release, and Nigeria could not afford to be left behind in the twenty-first century, according to the Rivers State governor, who has been a proponent of a transparent electoral system.
He said: “I think it is a good development for Nigeria and democracy. And I will urge them, the two Chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate, to abide by that recommendation by the joint committee of the two Chambers because it is for their own interest.
“And I commend the Senate President and the Speaker, House of Representatives, all the principal officers and members who felt that they must listen to what is good for Nigeria and what is good for Nigerians.”
Governor Wike went on to say that the topic of direct or indirect primaries should be decided only by the political parties in the country when it comes to amending the Electoral Act.
He believes it would be unjust for the National Assembly to dictate how political parties should conduct their primaries.
“A party could adopt a method, procedure in electing who represent them at various level, that is not the for the National Assembly to dictate that you must do it by direct or indirect method. That is not democracy. That should be an internal affair of the party.”
Governor Wike insisted that National Assembly prescribing how political parties conduct their primaries was tantamount to interference in the internal politics of the parties.
He stated: “The National Assembly should realise that doing that is interfering in the internal politics of the parties and that will not augur well.”
The governor also faulted the bill sponsored by the Deputy Senate President seeking for the establishment of two Nigerian Law School campuses in each of the six geopolitical zones.
He stressed that the proposal was not in tandem with current reality, as the existing Nigerian Law School campuses were grossly underfunded.
Wike stressed: “The National Assembly has not been able to give them the money to fund the Law School, and you are saying they should establish two Law Schools in each zone.”
