President Muhammadu Buhari’s special adviser on political matters, Babafemi Ojudu, has reacted to the rejection of transmission of results electronically by the Independent National Electoral Commission by lawmakers in the National Assembly.
Recall that lawmakers on Thursday had charged the electoral commission to seek the permission of the National Assembly and the National Communications Commission.
Senators that voted against the report of the committee, based their decision on technical issues that may arise in some parts of the country.
They voted that: “The Commission may consider the electronic transmission of results, provided the national coverage is adjudged to be adequate and secure by the National Communications Commission and approved by the National Assembly.”
Ojudu while speaking on the decision said the issues raised by the lawmakers before taking their decision on the matter should be considered.
The presidential aide stated this after presenting an award to a former governor of Edo State, Lucky Igbinedon, at International Conference Centre, Abuja, during an investiture of the 12th President of Rotary Club of Abuja Metro, Dupe Abosede.
He said, “Well, I don’t know why that happened, but I guess listening to the debate on the floor, listening to the NCC officials who came, it could just be as a result of technical considerations.”
“They are saying that in some parts of the country, connectivity could be very slow, connectivity could be very unreliable, and if you have to move the results to another area where there is connectivity, something could happen on the way.
“And I think they also raised the issues of hackers, that even in America, with its technological perfection, hackers hacked results in some parts of America during the last election. I think that could have been the consideration for that. I have no personal opinion about that, but that is their decision.”
Ojudu when asked about Nigerians who are saying that the APC rejected e-transmission because it wants to rig elections, said, “No o…!!! We don’t have to rig. We will go out and vigorously campaign.
“There is no belief that APC is a party that rigs elections. If we do, we wouldn’t have allowed the PDP to have Zamfara, Bauchi, Adamawa, Oyo, and others. That couldn’t have happened under the PDP.”
This article was originally published on Nigeria News