90% Of Lawmakers Would Lose If Elections Were Transparent — Sowore

Abuja, Nigeria–  Former presidential candidate and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has declared that nearly 90 per cent of Nigeria’s federal lawmakers and elected officials would not retain their positions if elections in the country were conducted transparently.

Sowore made this assertion on Channels Television on Wednesday, while reacting to the controversy surrounding the recent amendments to the Electoral Act, particularly the provisions relating to the electronic transmission of election results.

On Tuesday, the Senate amended the Electoral Act to allow the electronic transmission of election results, a reform widely demanded by Nigerians seeking to reduce election manipulation and improve credibility.

However, critics and activists  have expressed concern that the lawmakers retained a clause permitting manual collation of results in areas with poor internet connectivity, calling it unnecessary and potentially undermining the intent of the reform.

Speaking on The Morning Brief on Channels Television, Sowore argued that the lawmakers’ resistance to full transparency is rooted in self-interest.

“This excuse that there is no network in some states is just another balloon air on the part of these guys. They don’t want transparent elections because if elections are transparent, 90 per cent of them will not make it to the National Assembly — and of course the presidency and other elected positions, they know that,” Sowore said.

The human rights activist  described the Senate’s decision to retain manual collation as clever by half, warning that it was a deliberate tactic to preserve the hardcoded way of reporting elections, a system he said has eroded public trust in the electoral process.

Sowore also criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) current IREV system, calling it outdated and inefficient. He urged Nigeria to adopt electronic voting systems like India, highlighting the South Asian country’s ability to conduct elections for 900 million registered voters with minimal disputes.

“I said it yesterday and I will repeat it again, I am not even a fan of all these old systems. By now, we should be doing what they are doing in India. India has 900 million registered voters and they use electronic voting as their own way of expressing the wishes of the people and those are almost foolproof. I don’t think you hear a lot of tribunal sittings in India after 900 million votes and we have only 90 million here, we should be able to go for electronic voting,” he said.

Sowore further questioned why Nigerians are denied the opportunity to vote from home electronically, even as they engage in other secure and confidential online transactions, insisting that such reforms would restore public confidence in the electoral process.

“We should be able to vote from our homes electronically, just like we do bank transfers and other confidential online transactions,” he added.