By Yusuf Olawale
The Atiku Support Organization has debunked the recent submission of the APC-led national assembly that 100% electronic transmission is impossible in Nigeria.
In a statement made by the group’s National Publicity Secretary, Dr. E.I. Victor, the group argued that with a 98% teledensity rate and over 80% MTN Nigeria 3G broadband, real-time transmission of election results is 100% possible.
The group in its statement quashed the earlier submission by the National Assembly that only about 42% of localities in the Nigerian communities have adequate transmission coverage. The group claimed that the data from the National Communications Commission website contradicted the outdated information presented by the NCC head of the technical team before the House of Representatives.
They proclaimed that “the current figure, which the NCC technical team mischievously conceals to mislead Nigerians shows that the teledensity rate in Nigeria as of May 2021 is 98 percent.”
This implies that “For every 100 inhabitants in an area, at least one person is actively connected to a network through a mobile phone or other devices, thus proving the presence of a network service.
“It may display either of the following alphanumeric characters like 2G [G (GPRS), E (EDGE)], 3G, H, H+, 4G/LTE, etc for accessing the internet,” said Dr. Victor.
The group affirmed that the actions of the APC-led Senate are a clear threat to election transparency in Nigeria.
Besides, the group reveals the statements of President Muhammad Buhari’s administration National Broadband Plan 2020-2025 presented by Dr. Isa Pantami, which reads on page 16 of the plan that Nigeria has achieved 74 percent 3G coverage of the entire nation as of March 2020.
The group also noted that on Monday, June 7th, 2021, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, demonstrated during their annual general meeting that the company has achieved 80.4 percent 3G broadband coverage of Nigeria in 2020.
“This is aside from Globacom Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, and Etisalat Nigeria 3G network coverage of areas not covered by MTN or other competing network providers.”
The group stated that it was however dissapointed of the open show of brazen lies by the APC-led Senate in a bid to sabotage the integrity of the electoral process in Nigeria.
They posited that an E – transmission of election results will enhance transparency and integrity, increase voter confidence, strengthen democracy and save the lives of our corps members, policemen, and INEC staff who are routinely being killed in every election season.
The group, therefore, encouraged the Independent National Electoral Commission to assert its constitutional independence and uphold resolutely the supreme provision of section 78 and 3rd Schedule, Part 1, F, S.15 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.