Former Deputy President of Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, yesterday stated that every lawmaker was expected to vote in support of what is best for the country, irrespective of political affiliation.
Ekweremadu, who represents Enugu-West senatorial district, said that electronic transmission of results would still be part of the 2023 general election, and appealed that the issue should not be a sectional dichotomy or be seen as a political party affair.
The lawmaker, who was among the Senators absent at the plenary on Thursday, when the upper chamber voted on the Electoral Act Repeal and Re-enactment Bill as he was on official assignment in Montenegro in Europe, said there was still the possibility that Bill on electronic transmission of results would make the Constitution amendment.
He assured of his resolve to work with other patriotic and progressive lawmakers to resurrect electronic transmission of results upon the resumption of the National Assembly, starting from the point of harmonisation of the clauses passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In a statement by his Media Adviser, Uche Anichukwu, in which he explained the absence of the former Deputy President of Senate last Thursday plenary, Ekweremadu stated that every lawmaker was expected to vote in support of what is best for the country, irrespective of political affiliation.
On the rejection of electronic transmission of election results by the Senate, the statement said, It is unfortunate that just as was the case in the last National Assembly, when efforts to better the quality of our elections were serially frustrated and it was eventually not signed into law by Mr. President, non-progressives are equally frustrating the current exertions. But that is not enough to assume that everybody, who was not present at the July 15 plenary, simply chickened out.
Furthermore, the statement reads: Ekweremadu is not deterred by attacks on his person by the uninformed over the outcome of the voting on the electronic transmission of results.
Therefore, as was the case with electronic voting, the senator is resolved to work with other patriotic and progressive lawmakers to resurrect electronic transmission of results upon the resumption of the National Assembly, starting from the point of harmonisation of the clauses passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
