“The chameleon changes colour to match the earth. The earth does not change colour to match the chameleon”.- African proverb.
Reports say Senate President Godswill Akpabio recently hit back at critics attempting to push the legislature away from its apparent direction regarding the 2027 elections. He is miffed by those who are either deliberately ignoring key steps and issues in the work on the proposed Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, or others who are pre-judging the outcome of the process out of mischief. Either way, our immensely powerful Senate President is hurt enough to be Nigerian and leave people who are attempting to stampede the National Assembly or impose their views on the review process to God.
When a Nigerian leaves you to God, you need to worry. When a big man in Nigeria leaves the opposition or critics to God, you can be sure he is worried. When God is invoked in this decisive battle over the credibility of the 2027 elections, you can be sure the stakes are so high, the nation should be worried.
Akpabio insists that Nigerians must wait until the harmonization of the decisions of the two chambers and votes and proceedings are considered before passing judgements over the review process. For those who want our representatives to do the needful, this suggests that there are substantive steps in the amendment process to keep hopes alive. There are more Nigerians in the camp that believes that the National Assembly has resolved to frustrate the amendment which represents the key to more credible elections next year. There is still the question of the disposition of President Bola Tinubu to critical elements of the review, particularly Clause 60(3) which would compel presiding officers to transmit results to Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC’s, Result Viewing, IReV, portal in real time. If history is a guide, it will be safe to assume that his position is a reflection of the National Assembly’s.
Akpabio’s exasperations with those who think the legislature he leads has abdicated its responsibility to provide a vital element in the amendments will find little sympathy with Nigerians outside the very tiny circle who think the best election is one that provides them an opportunity to rig.
Basically, those in the ruling party who oppose mandatory transmission of results say it is too risky to insist that all results must be transmitted in real time because power and communications infrastructure in Nigeria cannot be guaranteed to support a weighty burden of extremely sensitive nature like elections. This argument attempts to console Nigerians who demand legalization with the observation that transmission of results is still provided for in the current Act. The buck will be passed to INEC to use it or adopt another method of transmitting results.
For the sake of argument, let us assume, by some miracle, that INEC will understand that it is free to choose real time transmission of results over all options. Let us also assume that it finds the courage and the levels of responsibility to the sustenance of our democracy to insist that it will only accept results transmitted directly from polling units to its IReV portal. That will leave it to source for the type of funding the Federal Government needs to provide for reliable power and communication infrastructure, in time for the 2027 elections. It will have to go to the Federal Government and ask for the funding to be provided. INEC only conducts elections. It cannot compel the Federal Government to provide the funding for improvements in infrastructure and facilities which it says do not exist, and, by implication, cannot be made available between now and the elections.
The suggestion that electronic transmission is available to INEC as an option under the subsisting law insults the intelligence of Nigerians. In 2023, the same option was activated and subverted. Many elections were won and lost because the judiciary decided disputes only in the context of the old-fashioned, rigging-prone legal framework.
Nothing has changed since then, except the determination of Nigerians that 2027 elections must be conducted through a system that genuinely addresses the weaknesses of the system under which the 2023 elections were conducted. The fact is, if the APC’s electoral fortunes in 2027 will be determined by the availability of power source and communications with appropriate efficiency levels during election periods, this administration, which, to be clear here, includes its legislative component, would have had no hesitation funding what is needed for real-time transmission of results.
There are suggestions that the basic infrastructure for real-time transmission exists in INEC, and only improvements on its reliability and integrity are needed. The question is, will this INEC dare insist on this option, and stand with Nigerians on the need to have credible elections in 2027? Critics of the legislature’s attempt to abdicate its responsibility should educate the nation over what it would take in funding and time to achieve real-time transmission without jeopardizing other critical components of preparations towards the elections. INEC’s passive posture will advise against this important piece of information.
It is possible that APC is so comfortable with its current haul of elected politicians and the damage in opposition camps that it is paying little attention to the mood of Nigerians regarding their conditions of existence and dispositions over the 2027 elections. Damaging image of fixing an election a whole year away will hurt it very badly. Legislators of the APC know how difficult it is to visit constituencies owing to hostilities from citizens who sent them to state capitals and Abuja. The cost of buying and keeping loyalties of supporters and voters is rising with a full year to go to the elections.
The video which shows President Tinubu asking Nigerians to reject him in 2027 if he does not give them power is gaining new currency in social media. If he cannot provide the power and reliable communication facilities to INEC to conduct elections that citizens will consider as better reflections of their will, the credibility and outcome of the 2027 elections will severely test the resilience of our democratic traditions. The best way Tinubu’s touted achievements in foundational reforms in the economy can be tested will be through credible elections. The reform of the electoral process must be freed from partisan interests.
The post Senator Akpabio is angry, by Hakeem Baba-Ahmed appeared first on Vanguard News.
