A group under the umbrella of the National Opposition Movement commenced an Occupy National Assembly (#OccupyNASS) protest against the Senate’s rejection of the transmission of election results in real time from polling units.
The protest commenced at 8 am at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, as the group, in its demands, insisted that the National Assembly must: “Make transmission of results compulsory and pass the electoral bill now, [and] suspend the tax law and illegal deductions now.”
The Movement insisted that Nigerians must be allowed to democratically decide who their leaders should be, and not be given leaders through manipulation.
JomogNews reports that there is heavy security presence at the scene, with personnel drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
The demonstration is against the backdrop of the Senate’s position on the electronic transmission of election results.
JomogNews reports that the Senate on Wednesday reportedly turned down a proposed change to Clause 60, sub-section 3 of the Electoral Amendment Bill that sought to make electronic transmission of election results compulsory.
At the time of filing this report, the protesters had begun their march from the Federal Secretariat, heading towards the National Assembly gate.
