KEHINDE AKINTOLA, Abuja
Members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Thursday unanimously kicked against the use of electronic voting during the forthcoming 2019 general elections.
The lawmakers’ position was contained in a bill which seeks to amend the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2010 which was considered and adopted during the Committee of the Whole.
During the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill which has 41 clauses, the House adopted the clauses which provide for the use of smart card of electorates during elections at various polling units across the country.
Majority of the lawmakers had kicked against the amendment proposed by Kingsley Chinda (PDP-Rivers), had sought to add a new amendment that the election in any polling unit should be suspended if the card reader fails to another effective card reader is brought.
The amendment reads: “The presiding officer shall use the smart card reader for accreditation of voters. Where the smart card fails in any unit, the election in that unit will be suspended and conducted within 24 hours.”
Some of the lawmakers who warned of the delay such suspension would cause.
In his intervention, Yusuf Lasun, Deputy Speaker, who presided over the Committee of the Whole, said: “If the card reader fails to read in one polling unit, that means you are delaying result of the election in the entire ward.”
In his response, Chinda who doubles as chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, expressed optimism that there would be no delays except in cases where the result from the polling unit would affect that of the entire ward.
“If that unit’s result will not affect the entire outcome, INEC doesn’t have to go back. But if it will affect the outcome, their (INEC) policy is that they must go back to do the accreditation with a card reader and conduct the election,” he said.
They also adopted the provisions for the disqualification of a candidate if he or she is found to have filed fake documents for qualification, while his party is to pay a fine of N1 million.
Section eight of the bill also provides that “a person who being a member of a political party, misrepresents himself by not disclosing his membership, affiliation or connection to any political party in order to secure an appointment with the Commission in any capacity, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of at least five years or a fine of at least N5 million or both.”
The proposal also seeks to disqualify the candidate from participating in a fresh election in cases where the initial election has been conducted.
In case of death or withdrawal of a candidate during an election, the bill also provides that the political party affected shall within 10 days of the occurrence of the event, hold a fresh primary election to produce and submit a fresh candidate to the commission for the election concerned.
However, the House deferred the further consideration of the Electoral amendment with two clauses pending.
