E-Voting System, A Pathway To Free And Fair Election In Nigeria- OSIEC Chairman

By Musa Adeniyi, Osogbo

As Nigerians look forward to free and fair general elections in the year 2023, members of the National Assembly have been called upon not to make National Communication Commission (NCC) a cog in the wheels of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Chairman, Osun State Independence Electoral Commission (OSIEC), Barr Segun Oladitan made the call in Ilesa while speaking to journalists about the recent local government election conducted in Kaduna State.

Barr Oladitan who said he personally witnessed the conduct of the election expressed his satisfaction with the transparency of the voting exercise.

He commended the state electoral commission for employing electronic voting and electronic transmission of results which according to him, made the election to be free, fair and acceptable to to everyone.

Oladitan maintained that “if we truly want free and fair election in Nigeria, electronic voting is what we need”.

He called on members of the National Assembly to make laws that would hasten the progress being made by INEC in the conduct of elections in the country and not the ones that would impede it.

According to him, what the INEC needs now is for the National Assembly to give it the legal backing to conduct e-voting in the country.

He said, “INEC does not need to wait for authorisation from the NCC before it decides on the method for the conduct of elections in the country”.

When asked wether his commission was ready to go the way of Kaduna State by conducting the forthcoming local government election in Osun state electronically, the OSIEC chairman explained that once the Osun State Assembly made a legislation for that, his commission would not hesitate to go for electronic voting and electronic transmission of results.