Constituents query Ekwunife over absence from Senate plenary

“I argued with respect to the situation where card readers were used in the Southeast in the last general elections, while manual voting were allowed in some other parts of the country, which significantly affected the voting strength of the region in the previous elections.” Ekwunife, whose second coming in 2015 was truncated by inexplicable Court Judgment, remarked that although she considers “the recent complaints by some constituents as germane, it is important to state that my absence at the time of voting was never deliberate.” Her words: “The deliberation on the electoral act which was supposed to come up on Wednesday was moved to Thursday, and was expected to stretch to Monday, July 19, for voting, however during the plenary on Thursday after some of us had travelled, Senators present extended plenary hours to vote on the electronic transmission in order to conclude it same day instead of continuing on Monday, which was why the Senate plenary lasted till 9p.m.

They pointed out that, “as a representative in the Senate, we expect that when very sensitive and important decisions or voting are taking place, you will not only make yourself available, but also use every means possible to lobby your colleagues to support initiatives that will advance the cause of your constituents.” ODU recalled the many instances of violence, carnage and destruction of property that attended electoral disputations during collation of election results, stressing that they looked forward to the Electoral Act amendment to solve the associated problems through electronic transmission of votes.

“We observed with dismay from the compilation of the votes and proceedings of Senators for the bill on Electronic Transmission of Election Results, that you were absent on Thursday, July 15, 2021; when the draft bill was put to vote on the floor of the Senate chamber, a day that presented an opportunity for history to be made in the electoral process of the Federal Republic of Nigeria-a country bedevilled with various forms of electoral riggings and manipulations.

“Please, note that unless satisfactory explanation is offered, our members, your constituents at large; are inclined to view your action as typical of politicians, who profit or hope to profit from election result manipulation that has bedevilled our electoral system, and frustrated the desires of the people to elect representatives of their choice as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution, as amended.” The letter was signed by Engineer Goddy Ikebuaku and Barrister Chimezie Obi, chairman and secretary respectively of ODU, Abuja.

Obosi, as a town, has experienced quite a number of fracases that culminated in death during the election result collation process, hence our feeling of disappointment that our voice did not count owing to your absence on that day of the vote.” In her written response, Senator Ekwunife apologised for her absence, recalling how she had in the past stated her support for electronic transmission of election results.

Backing up her contribution with evidence of past advocacy for electronic transmission of outcome of balloting, the second term Senator stated: “Even though some argued that INEC should be allowed to choose or exempt areas where there are poor network coverage, I vehemently argued against such position, which in my opinion would favour some regions against others, knowing full well that the Southeast is one of the regions in Nigeria that have good network coverage..

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