The collation of the results of the presidential and National Assembly 2023 elections caused a tumultuous session in the Senate. Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, who represents Kwara Central, raised a motion invoking Orders 41 and 51. He appealed for calm and called on political parties, stakeholders, and Nigerians to follow the rule of law in the election process. Oloriegbe was supported by other senators in the All Progressives Congress, who emphasized the importance of the highest legislative body’s involvement in restoring peace among political parties.
Oloriegbe urged all political actors, leaders, and Nigerians to remain composed and allow the collation and announcement of the presidential and National Assembly elections to proceed according to the Electoral Act’s provisions.
Sani Musa, mentioned that, “It is very clear that accreditation and verification are to be done by the BVAS. We are not voting electronically for that real-time transmission to happen. Transmission can only happen after it has been published on BVAS. So it is not real-time. We are not a court to interpret but INEC has a responsibility to stick to guidelines.
“It is a simple process and that process after publishing, they send it to back-end servers and it is after then that INEC can put it on IREV. INEC has been attacked over 160 times and nobody has been making any issue about that.”
Meanwhile, Opeyemi Bamidele is advocating for INEC to conduct the upcoming elections according to the Electoral Act. He is asking for the public to be patient while INEC completes the process and for the judiciary to not interfere with the election process without following the proper procedures. Bamidele believes that the judiciary must ensure that the electoral process is not compromised by unlawful interference.
However, Senator Betty Apiafi and other opposition members disagree with Bamidele’s proposal, arguing that it is not appropriate to bring up these issues during such a critical time. They also feel that it is not their place to dictate INEC’s guidelines. This disagreement between the ruling party members and the opposition has caused a division, with the All Progressives senators pushing to move forward with the motion and prayers, while the opposition senators do not support them.
Senator Orker-Jev also noted that, “The best way is to step down this order because if we are already generating this kind of controversy, imagine what will happen out there.”
“I think we have exhaustively looked at issues concerned here. As a parliament, it is our duty to stabilise the polity to calm the nerves of people that are agitated as a result of the last election on 25th February. Senator Chukwuka Utazi, noted
“We are here to appeal to our people to follow the law and we are asking all the agencies of government to follow what the law stipulates.”
Senator Uche Ekwunife, also mentioned that, “This is a very controversial matter; everywhere is tense, and people are very apprehensive. The only way out of it is for INEC to stick to the Constitution and the Electoral Act. INEC should stick to their guideline. That is the only solution,”
Ekiti South senator, Biodun Olujimi said, “This process is still an ongoing process and INEC should follow its own guidelines & the Electoral Law. We should not ignite violence and the best way is to ask everybody to maintain peace and order while we go through this process and finish it properly.”
According to Ahmed Lawan, the Senate President, the approved action was the capturing of election results and transmission to the server.
Lawan said, “In the Electoral Act that we passed, there is nothing like the electoral transmission. What we have passed is to transfer after all the paper works that we normally do while the agents and everybody there have the papers.
“INEC will now scan or snap the result sheets and transfer them. We urge INEC to follow the Electoral Act and other laws on their guidelines.”
Lawan further added, “In this Chamber, we are not going to interpret the Electoral Act. This is not a Court of Law. We are just to guide this debate and talk about the general principles of how this election and declaration should be done. There is no need to stress ourselves.
“What we are doing is to urge INEC to follow the law and the citizens should be calm.”
Lawan stated that if someone is unhappy with INEC’s decision, they should take the matter to court.
