Featured, Politics
By Anthony Isibor.
PROFESSOR Anya O. Anya, former director-general of Nigerian Economic Summit Group, has revealed what he thinks is the reason why majority members of the National Assembly, NASS, behave the way they do.
“Well, let me say two things on that. First of all, events in the National Assembly this week, July 19, over the PIB, and over the electoral bill, have shown clearly that the politicians in the National Assembly are very short-sighted.
“They do not understand where the country is. They are focusing on their own interest and they even think that by voting against electronic voting, against technology because that is what it is,” he said.
Realnews recalls that over 80 senators voted against the transmission of election result electronically as recommended by the Independent National Election Commission, INEC, and certified by the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC.
“The good thing is, two things have come out. First, in 2017, INEC and the NCC sat down looked at the whole question of using electronic transmission and so on. And they looked at it and both agreed that it was possible. I’m talking about 2017, four years ago. This year, NCC has even said that there is 89% coverage,” he said.
According to him, nobody in the South East in the National Assembly voted on the basis of what was best for his people. And because “Nigeria has passed the threshold of the people who will be using it, there is no excuse not to be using it because we have already passed the level where it ought to be and it is documented by the NCC and has been announced by INEC.”
Prof. Anya, who said that he didn’t expect any better from the senators, insisted that no country, including the United States, Britain, Japan, and China where they practice electronic transmission has 100 percent internet coverage.
“I heard Orji Uzor Kalu said that there was no network in Igbere. Igbere has better network than anywhere else I know in Abia because when I’m travelling to the East on the road, it is when I start getting to Igbere that, I start using my phone. But he tells the nation that in Abia, there is no network.
“Nobody was voting, maybe the nearest you can say is Abaribe, he may be the only person who understood because he plays smart politics there. What did he do? Okay since you people are determined not to see the bright things of these times, lets allow you, but let history record who and who stood well. And by forcing them, we now know the people who history will judge as responsible for the mess that we are in. So, it is a defining moment, but beyond that, all the other people voted on the basis of their personal interests.
“They think that the inglorious past that they brought on us will continue, in 2023 they will all be returned, that is their hope. That is what they think.
“You see, the voting pattern if you have been following the Nigerian politics from 2015 to now, it shouldn’t surprise anybody. Because during 2019, most people think they can’t understand what happened, some think it was abracadabra, whatever they call it.
“But nevertheless, suddenly people who had not done much were declared as having won the election, but I’m happy that most of us decided that let it be. It’s not the basis for violence after all.”
He added that recalling them will be a waste of time.
“Recall them for what? Listen, when things change, they change permanently. In any case, have they been of any use to their people, say over the last 10 years.
“So long as they keep to the spirit of the Constitution and keep the term. First-term has gone, second term has gone. And when they have gone through God’s will, we will be able to reorganize our country? But the confusion that we will leave behind, but even that can be sorted out,” he said.
He, however, advised INEC to continue what it has always done as records show that INEC had already been using it. They used it in the Ondo election, used it in the Edo, and used it in the Ekiti election, so it is not new.
“If I were INEC, I will allow these people to have their day, let them think they have won. Will they come to stop INEC from transmitting results; are they even intelligent enough to know how these technologies work? You don’t get into things you don’t understand. Like here, they said it is the digital age, and that’s why I depend on the younger generation to guide me in the things I do because you must know that technology is disruptive of many things. And if you recognize that as the reality, the thing is to lean on those who know and understand,” he said.
-August 04, 2021, 14:10 GMT|
Tags: ETER - Prof. Anya Why NASS voted the way they did on PIB
