Kenneth Okonkwo, a prominent legal practitioner and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has called on the National Assembly to eliminate all provisions for manual result transmission from the Electoral Act.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Okonkwo argued that the only way to ensure the integrity of Nigerian elections is to make electronic transmission from polling units an absolute requirement.
Key Demands and Proposals:
Mandatory Electronic Uploads: Okonkwo insists that polling officers must be legally bound to transmit results before leaving the polling site.
Election Nullification: He proposed a stricter measure for the House of Representatives: if electronic transmission fails in a specific area, the election in that unit should be invalidated.
A "Superpower" Vision: The actor-turned-politician posited that Nigeria’s primary hurdle is electoral fraud. He claimed that achieving truly free and fair elections would set the nation on a path to becoming a global superpower within two decades.
The Legislative Context: The call comes amid a volatile legislative environment. Although the Senate recently reversed its stance to approve electronic transmission, it stopped short of reinstating the "real-time" requirement.
Furthermore, a controversial clause remains: if internet connectivity fails, the manual Form EC8A becomes the primary record—a loophole Okonkwo and many civil society groups fear could be exploited.
