The Nigerian Senate has voted against the electronic transmission of election results, as proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Obviously, the outcome of that voting has not gone down well with many Nigerians, yours truly included.
The reason is that we believe transmitting election results electronically right from polling centres will go a long way in giving the country a free and fair electioneering process.
This expectation arose from perennial mismanagement of elections in this country, where everyone wants to win and never to lose. This impossible desire to win at all cost has made virtually all elections in this country bitter and contentious.
Many have argued that electronic transmission of results is the panacea to electoral fraud and disputations. But, is it, really?
It is proper to weigh the prospects and constraints of any issue before dabbling into it, lest you make an uninformed decision.
From what is happening in Okigwe Zone, otherwise known as Imo North Senatorial District, particularly the bitter ‘politricks’ that trailed Sir Frank Ibezim to the Supreme Court and his eventual declaration as the Distinguished Senator representing the zone has been reignited. Bitter losers are up in arms against Ibezim for voting against the proposal.
It is difficult to understand why an otherwise brotherly contest to represent the people could attract so much hatred and anger. It is more surprising that these bitter losers are putting their health at risk by their hypertensive rejection of reality over which they have no control. It is in their best interest to accept their irreversible loss and, perhaps, take another shot at the contest next time.
Of course, it is disappointing when one’s expectations as in this instance are not met. Unfortunately, we have lost in the heat of passion the opportunity to interrogate Ibezim’s decision to join in killing the proposal.
Many who condemned Ibezim have spoken mostly from ignorance. We all know how poor the country’s wobbly digital and broadband penetration is, coupled with the preponderance of hackers to wreak havoc any time, thereby endangering the collated data even before it gets to the terminus.
Ibezim’s stance was based on an informed professional perspective. He is not used to playing to the gallery and can never be deterred from followed his good conscience and convictions simple because of the rants of some bellyaching townsfolk, mourning their losses and refusing to be comforted. What would it be worth if he voted in favour of an amendment that cannot fly at the end of the day.
I am sure that if the naysayers visit https://voters.inecnigeria.org/ they would change their jaundiced mindset and see reason to laud their senator, instead of crucifying him.
The site offers a professional appraisal of the INEC server for the current voter registration and observes that INEC is currently using a Cloud server from a company called Digital Ocean for their current voter registration. This server is at a data centre managed by a company called Digital Reality, in New Jersey, precisely located on 100, Delawanna Ave., Clifton, NJ 07014, United States. It is, therefore, obvious that the server is not reliable and cannot be trusted to deliver on the people’s expectations.
Distinguished Senator Frank Ibezim, being privy to this information, had to align himself with those who voted for exclusion of electronic transmission of results by INEC as a shield against future confusion.
The Distinguished Senator said: “Except on the contrarary, if INEC is planning to use same server, then we are doomed, and I mean doomed, because this type of server can be broken and hacked into easily. The security level of this type of server is prone to external interference and data manipulations and best for storage of less sensitive data.
“Electronic transmission of election result/e-voting is of a highly classified data. It is difficult for INEC to guarantee that the election results cannot easily be intercepted and modified while in transit or in Database, using the available server they currently use.
“There is a very high-security risk exposed to during transmission and storage to Black Hat hackers. This makes Nigeria to effectively embrace the true demon they are clamouring to run away from.
“Electronic management of voting and votes is good if done properly and secured but do we currently have the capacity in Nigeria? Your guess is as good as mine.
“This issue at hand is beyond the Senate/House of Representatives to analyze relating to data base management and Internet security. They lack the requisite technical capacity to assess and analyse Internet security and, therefore, ought to engage consultants for their assesment and opinion before even going to debate either Yes or No to electronic transmission of votes.
“Several consultations are needed from independent IT security professionals appointed individually outside INEC or any agency, which will submit reports that will have pros/cons and recommendations that fit our environment in a language everyone will understand.
“Based on this report, the lawmakers can now debate. For now, I must say that those debating the pros are doing such laborous task blindly and the outcome can be totally disastrous to our democracy. If we must do like others, we must be prepared to do it well like others.”
It is sad that people who are debilitated by the hangover of their monumental failure to stop the Distinguished Senator from berthing in the Red Chamber have seen in this an opportunity to hit at Ibezim but have failed woefully.
Ibezim deserves plaudits for having the courage to vote, unlike those that chickened out and ran away or went into hiding. The vote was noticeably cast along party lines and Ibezim voted likewise. Only a mischievous person would expect him to toe a different line from party dictates.
People talk about electronically transmitted result as if it is infallible. We know that everything good can also be manipulated by smart crooks, especially in the face of daunting challenges. Even in developed countries, this has shown its limitations. A good example is the the Broward County Florida, USA experience, which clearly shows that even if when servers are secure and managed well, there are other issues that can make electronic voting susceptible to manipulation.
Nevertheless, I believe it is within the purview of the electoral umpire to decide either way. I am not so sure it is proper to subject INEC to the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and NASS. What should be the concern of all is that effectual measures be instituted to ensure that the electoral process is rid of fraudulent practices whether election results are transmitted electronically or manually.