Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State has urged the National Assembly to leave the Independent National Electoral Commission to decide when or where to utilise the electronic transmission of election results.

Speaking ahead of the 2023 general elections, Fayemi, who is also the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum said this during an interview on Channels TV’s Newsnight programme on Monday.

Recall that the lawmakers had on July 15 been left divided over the Electoral Amendment Bill which was passed by the House of Representatives moments after opposition lawmakers walked out of the heated session.

WuzupNigeria had reported that the votes for the e-transmission became a “for and against” party affair between the lawmakers of the All Progressives Party and the Peoples Democratic Party.

The Senate only approved the conditional electronic transmission of electoral results and voted publicly along party lines over section 52(3) of the electoral act amendment bill, which deals with electronic transmission of poll results.

Fayemi, however, opined that the drama that trailed the passage of the bill before the parliament was unnecessary.

“Personally, I feel we should leave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to handle and decide when or where to utilise the electronic transmission, not the principle of it,”

“I feel that the hullabaloo around this could have been avoided partly because I feel it is something that we must not over-regulate, particularly the activities of an independent commission.

“If I have the opportunity to have been asked, I would have actually argued strongly that we leave this matter for the electoral commission to handle rather than micro-manage the commission or bringing the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) as the final arbitral on what happens to the electoral commission,” the former Mines Minister added.