“Today, I gave an interview at ARISE Television. In the interview, I explained how, as a member of the Electoral Committee, I felt deeply disappointed when, while I was in Bayelsa mourning the demise of my brother, the Deputy Governor, I heard that the Senate refused to pass the clause on mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling stations. This was what we had been working on for the past two years, and the House of Representatives passed exactly what we agreed on. I thank the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, the Chairman of the House Committee, and other members of the House for doing the right thing,” Dickson wrote.

Dickson, who attended his first Senate session of the year on Tuesday following his mourning period, said he confronted Senate leaders over the issue. He noted that the Senate later moved a motion for rescission, sponsored by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, but it included a proviso validating results in areas affected by network failures.

“Let me be clear: INEC had told us that they have the capacity to transmit election results nationwide, and we believe them. However, in parliament, you don’t get all you want at the time you want. The parliamentary system involves lobbying, negotiations, consensus-building, and making incremental progress. What happened today was not a loss to democracy; it was incremental progress,” he added.