BY NEFISHETU YAKUBU

Young Progressives Party (YPP) on Thursday rejected the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill passed by the Senate, faulting its failure to mandate electronic transmission of results from polling units to IREV.

The party, in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Wale Martins in Abuja on Thursday, said the action amounted to giving with one hand and taking with the other.

It said that the mandatory electronic transmission of results, which it described as the most critical amendment, was ‘deliberately avoided’ to preserve a dysfunctional process benefiting Nigeria’s entrenched political class.

The party warned that any electoral act without mandatory electronic transmission to IREV invites fraud and should be firmly resisted by Nigerians.

YPP urged civil society, youth groups, labour unions and professional bodies to demand reversal of the anti-democratic decision immediately.

“Of all the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act, the most pivotal, which is the mandatory electronic transmission of results, was cleverly avoided.

“This action is deliberate and self-serving. It is designed to preserve a dysfunctional electoral process that benefits only a political class,” it said.

The party also called on President Bola Tinubu to withhold assent, insisting that mandatory electronic transmission remained vital to restoring electoral confidence.

It warned that Nigeria’s democracy must not be sacrificed for elite convenience, stressing that the will of the people must prevail in the country. (NAN)