A Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act 2010, sponsored by Sen. Tijani Kaura (Zamfara North-APC), scaled second reading after a brief debate on the floor of the Red Chamber.
In leading debate on the Bill, Senator Kaura said, “The machine (card reader) was configured to only read PVCs of a particular polling unit, which has proven to be very effective in reducing various forms of election malpractices especially multiple voting, which has characterised election for many years in Nigeria.
“However, due to some legilative oversight while drafting the Electoral Act as adduced by the Supreme Court, the usage of the game changer is threatened, thus the need for a concerted effort by the 8th Senate to salvage the situation.
“You may recall that in the recent judgments of the Supreme Court on the use of the card reader, the opinions expressed during the judgment and the speech by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed and during the valedictory session in honour of Justice Saifullahi Muntaka Coomassie,were to the effect the judiciary interprets law as it is and not what the public, critics feel it should be.
Consequently it is safe to say that the cases of card reader are unprecedented as the card reader was used for the first time in the 2015 elections based only on the 2015 Electoral Act, 2010 (no. 6) despite its novelty and this was the rationale behind the ruling of the Supreme Court . This bill becomes necessary as amending the law will enable the Supreme Court to reverse itself in future similar cases”.
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