By Nwaorgu Faustinus
A seasoned Media Practitioner and President of a nongovernmental organization - Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative, Chief Christie Obiaruko Ndukwe, has thrown her weight behind the nationally talked about E- Transmission of election results to the INEC iRev.
Chief Obiaruko in a Facebook post stated that, "I am for E-Transmission of results to the INEC iRev as long as we can get 80% accuracy without forced manipulation of the figures as we saw at the Obingwa Local Government of Abia State."
According to her, “the real issue is not the transmission but what exactly is going to be transmitted - cooked or actual figures? The BVAS is supposed to give accurate data on the accredited numbers and in turn, the actual votes. Not a situation where the accredited voters are more than the registered voters in a particular unit, ward or LGA."
Continuing she said, "There is no doubt that INEC has the code to switch off the network in real time to avoid uploading in real time. We saw it happen and unfortunately, the laws have no action or punishment for such. That to me should be the real reform!!!!
The laws have always been there but the challenge is with no implementation of the laws. And this to me is a deliberate sabotage!
Every technical system could be sabotaged."
She also noted sabotage by the insurgents and terrorists who have consistently brought down our national grid.
"In the event of such, what becomes the solution? There should be an alternative where there is a network issue either deliberate or systemic.
Hackers have also been on the prowl, trying multiple times to hack into the INEC Server” she said
To bridge these gaps, the media practitioner suggested that "the National Assembly should amend the Electoral Act to read: Electronic Transmission in real time/Transfer of Results or whatever INEC decides depending on the areas with irreversible challenges."
”Tomorrow, we hope to see a proper harmonization of the report from the two sections of the NASS. A voice vote or actual votes will make it more transparent", she finally declared.
Commenting on her post, Azubuike Peterside Oweguom said, "The word "Transfer" still gives political actors or INEC the same opportunity to do what they're known for.
"The ideal thing should be "outright cancellation wherever there's network glitches" and it should be scheduled for a rerun.
"We must not start giving room for a repetitive concern of the 2023 presidential election in Rivers state where the will of the people clearly short-change for ministerial position"
