The Anglican Archbishop of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Okigwe South Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. David Onuoha, has advised the political class in Nigeria to opt for electronic voting.
In an interview with Vanguard, published on Saturday, the religious leader said manual transmission of election results is not the best in a corruption-riddled society like Nigeria.
“Looking at our electoral process, I am inclined to say that we are not getting it right. I have been involved in election monitoring, from the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, which is recognized as a body, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. In the past elections, I was always visiting polling booths to monitor or observe how these things were going. To my greatest surprise, no electoral result in this area, has reflected the wishes of the people! The results have never reflected the voting pattern. It has always been victory for the highest bidder and if that is the case, then, we can never get it right,” Onuoha said.
“I like the reforms they are doing now in INEC, with electoral processes. Not until electoral results begin to reflect the voting pattern and the wishes of the people, we will never get it right.
“The best way to go is electronic voting, because it will reduce a whole lot of problems. Where they do most of these things they do to change the results, is in the local government collation centre or community collation centre.
“If we have an arrangement where the result moves from the polling booth to INEC server or whatever gadget, then and only then, things will change for the better.
“To continue the usual way and expect a new thing, remains an act of madness. Doing the same thing, the same way, all the time and expecting a different result, is not healthy at all.”
