The Senate Chief Whip, Sen. Orji Kalu, has justified his vote against the electronic transmission of votes in the electoral act amendment bill, saying that Nigeria requires 95 per cent of national network coverage to enable electronic transmission of election results.
Kalu is among the 52 Senators who on July 15th voted against the electronic transmission of votes, a critical part of the bill that will entrench fairness in the electoral processes.
Kalu said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja that the Independent National Electoral Commission should be compelled to seek clearance from Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) while the National Assembly would have to approve the verdict of NCC.
According to him, the current network coverage was inadequate.
“I have never been against transmission of results. I only said we don’t have adequate coverage where we live, this is the issue.
“We have coverage, but it is not adequate.
“Like Abia North Senatorial District where I come from, there is no adequate coverage, maybe 43 per cent coverage, so how are we going to do that?
”I believe in electronic transmission, but I want to quickly urge the NCC to deploy their technology to ensure wider coverage; I believe in that process because it is transparent.
”I don’t want to listen to officials who want to buy equipment and make commissions, I am telling myself the truth, if we even have a coverage of 95 per cent it will be okay, but we have below 50 per cent in the entire country.
“I am not talking about my constituency.
”It wasn’t a party decision to vote against e transmission and not a clique decision, it was out of my conscience.
”I can only do what I will do that will benefit all Nigerians,” Kalu said
