Human Rights lawyer Mike Ozekhome (SAN), has faulted the decision of the National Assembly to vote against electronic transmission of results in the Electoral Amendment Bill.
Ozekhome, who was delivering a special lecture at the 2021 graduation ceremony/prize giving ceremony of the Pacesetters’ School owned by Edo state–born politician and educationist, Kenneth Imansuangbon in Abuja on Friday, July 17, 2021, said the concept of democracy is no longer in practice in Nigeria. He also faulted the conditionality that constrains the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to defer to the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) and National Assembly before it can transmit results in some areas.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria argued that with these decisions, the federal lawmakers may have laid the foundation for the rigging of 2023 elections.
Ozekhome said: “Did you see the national tragedy in the last two days in the national assembly where Nigerians are against electronic voting; wanting us to stay back in the stone aged, so that they can rig elections?
“The ballot papers are meant to be put there for your preference, it is meant to be counted and it is meant to count. Where you do not allow it to count then you are not having a government of the people. You are having a government of the few by the few and of the few.
“Why do we choose to kill electronic voting when across the world, even Democratic Republic of Congo here is using it? You are even now making INEC to be no longer independent. Why are we killing this country? Why are we on a journey of no destination?” he said.
