The members of the House of Representatives from the 17 Southern states have joined many Nigerians by rejecting the moves to outlaw the electronic transmission of the election result in the Electoral Act.
The Victor Nwokolo led caucus also faulted moves to confer exclusive jurisdiction in pre-election matters on the Federal High Court.
The lawmakers maintained that electronic transmission of results directly from the polling unit remains a firm step towards the elimination of result collation related malpractices, including alteration of figures, mutilation of documents, snatching, and diversion of ballot materials on transit to collation centers among others
The lawmakers warned that the attempt to tamper with the Electoral Act to remove electronic transmission of results is therefore a malicious and unpatriotic act aimed at emasculating the electoral system, undermine democracy and destabilize the country.
This, they contended cannot be condoned or justified under any guise whatsoever.
On the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), they threw their weights behind their governors in rejecting the proposed 30% share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins.
They also rejected the moves to vest the ownership structure of Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) in the Federal Ministry of Finance and support the governors of their respective states in their resolve that such should be held in trust by Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) since all tiers of government have stakes in that agency.
They argued that “As lawmakers, we insist that the 30% share of profit as well as vesting ownership structure of the proposed NNPC on the ministry of finance instead of the NSIA do not reflect the desired essentials of justice, equity and fairness.”
