Electoral Act: Why I didn’t join Peter Obi during protest – El-Rufai

Former Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, hasexplained why he did not join in the recent protest against the NationalAssembly alongside former Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi. El-Rufai suggested that he would have joined the protest ifhe had been in Nigeria. This is even as he stressed that the push for real-timeelectronic transmission of election results is critical to stopping electoralmanipulation. El-Rufai made the remark during an interview on Trust TV,where he criticised the Senate’s handling of the proposed electoral reforms andsuggested political interests were behind the delay. “It’s unfortunate I have not been able to return to Nigeria,I would have joined Mr. Peter Obi and other party leaders in protesting to theNational Assembly to restore the real-time and mandatory transmission ofresults from the polling unit,” he said. According to reports, El-Rufai argued that the adoption ofreal-time transmission would make election rigging far more difficult, whileaccusing the ruling party of resisting the reform for political survival. The former governor maintained that the House ofRepresentatives had already supported the reform push, but the Senate was yetto align with the move.

Read More