By Ugochukwu Alaribe

UMUAHIA- A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Etigwe Uwa, has said that only the electronic transmission of electoral results can guarantee free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria.

Uwa, who stated this in an interview in Umuahia, while reacting to the recent Supreme Court verdict on the presidential poll which held that the failure of the INEC to electronically transmit the election results through the IREV portal does not affect the collation of the results. The Supreme Court also held that the Electoral Act empowers INEC to determine the mode of transmission of results.

He explained that the Electoral Act 2022 sought to cure the malpractices of ballot snatching, stuffing ballot papers, writing results and announcing manipulated results, but lamented that the country is still grappling with problems of malpractices during elections.

The Senior Advocate further stated that electronic transmission of results could guarantee the authenticity of election results through cross checking what is presented from polling unit, ward to the local government, state, and national collation centres.

He said; “I think the Supreme Court could have its powers as the last court to adopt a purposive interpretation of statute. What was the mischief that the Electoral Act 2022 was seeking to cure? It was the mischief of snatching ballot boxes, stuffing ballot boxes, writing fresh results and announcing those results. But if you have electronic transmission at all the polling units, there is a way of cross checking the veracity of anything you go and bring. And we know that there is too much corruption in our electoral system.

“To say that IREV is just for public viewing, why did we spend all that money building the system? The Electoral Act said there is going to be IREV, a national electronic result register. The Electoral makes this provision. What is this registry supposed to do? And when the Electoral Act uses the word, ‘transmit results’; the court can construe that to mean, electronic transmission. They could have adopted that purposive interpretation. What it now means is that by this decision, people can continue to snatch ballot boxes, putting the lives of electoral officials at risk. Is this worth the lives of Nigerians knowing who politicians are for you to say that IRev is just for viewing? I think that decision takes us back. And I think that we who are in the justice delivery system, whether lawyers or judges, need to realize that justice is the underpinning of a functional society. Once there is no justice, there will be discontent. Discontents may not be problems in the short run, but in the long run, over several years and decades.

“I’m not analyzing this matter looking at Peter Obi, Atiku or President Tinubu, but I’m looking , but I’m looking at this matter in a continuum. We have established this precedent except the Electoral Act changes; it will be the same precedent. The Supreme Court is final not because it is infallible but it is infallible because it is final. Once the Supreme Court says it, it becomes the law, except they overrule themselves or the Electoral Act is amended. But the Electoral Act 2022 is a great improvement. Even if it is said that manual transmission supersedes electronic transmission, there is something the politicians can’t still do. They can no longer write an election result that is more than the number of electronically accredited votes using BIVAS.”

He urged Nigerians not to lose hope as there are still positive signs for more electoral reforms in the country, stressing that the countries who today enjoy credible electoral systems took longer years before they got it right.