BY Ezeocha Nze, Myke Uzendu, Abuja
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that the upcoming 2023 general elections will be conducted strictly on the provisions of the 2023 Electoral Act as amended
This is as the commission has denied allegations that it has changed its electoral guidelines, regarding transmission and collation of results.
The allegations followed a statement by its National Commissioner, in charge of Imnformation and Voter Education, Festus Okoye on the collation and of 2023 election results, which suggests that INEC would resort to manual collation of results
Okoye’s comments has however attracted reactions from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with its presidential candidate, Atuku Abubakar, describing it as a plot by the commission to rig the 2023 electionsBut in clearing the doubts raised by the statement, INEC in a statement issued Sunday by Festus Okoye, noted that the electronic transmission of results which entails uploading polling units-level results to a secure web portal has come to stay, adding that INEC will not deviate from the procedures it used in recent off-season state elections.The statement noted that while the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) provides for electronic transmission of results, however, like those before it, the law does not mandate the commission to collate results electronically.“The Independent National Electoral Commission’s INEC attention has been drawn to a misunderstanding arising from a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper on the procedure for result management during elections.
“Some have interpreted the explanation on result management procedure to mean that the Commission has jettisoned the electronic transmission of result and reverted to the manual process. This is not correct.
“For clarity, the procedure for result transmission remains the same as in recent Governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States. There will be no change in all future elections, including the 2023 General Election.
“We wish to reassure Nigerians that the electronic transmission of result has come to stay. It adds to the credibility and transparency of the process when citizens follow polling unit level results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal on real-time on Election Day. There will be no change or deviation in subsequent elections.
“The entire gamut of result management is provided for in Sections 60, 62 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022. In line with the provision of the law, the Commission, in April this year, released a detailed clarification of the procedure for transmission, collation and declaration of result which was shared with all stakeholders and uploaded to our website.
“We appeal to all Nigerians to avail themselves of the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Commission’s detailed explanation of the procedure and not reach a conclusion on the basis of media headlines
“Section 60(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended) states that; The Presiding officer shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form to be prescribed by the Commission as the case may be,” INEC stated.
…No going back on amended Electoral Act, Atiku warns INEC
The Presidential Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar on Sunday said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must come clean and make further clarifications over manual collation of result in the 2023 general election.
INEC had during the weekend revealed that the collation of results of the 2023 general elections will be done manually despite the adoption of electronic transmission of results.
INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, stressed that the commission would transmit results from polling units to its result-viewing portal, IReV, as witnessed in recent elections.
He explained that collation of results would “essentially” be done manually and where there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result from any polling unit, the collation or returning officer would use the original of the disputed collated result, accreditation data from the BVAS device and the results transmitted directly from the polling unit to determine the correctness of the result.
Reacting to the development, Media Aide to Atiku, Mazi Paul Ibe in a telephone conversation with our reporter, said that INEC needs to make further clarification on the manual collation of election result. He said that the newly signed electoral act brought a lot of advancement in the electoral process adding that the electoral umpire cannot afford to take the process back to the dark days of manual accreditation and collation.
He said, “The 2023 election is the most consequential election in our democratic history. So we need to understand what they are exactly talking about so that it does not create needless confusion. We need them to clarify what they mean.
“But we have to give them the benefit of doubt because they cannot be going back to what has been abandoned. The results are in putted from source from the polling unit. Our electoral process has moved, we have made some advances by virtue of the last electoral act amendment and I don’t think that the intendment is to take us back to where we were coming from”.
The Spokesperson of Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, Daniel Bwala, added that the explanation of INEC on manual collation is fishy. He said that the electoral body seems to be up to something by trying to reintroduce manual collation while most of the recent elections were electronically done and there were no compromises during the process.
Bwala said, “Section 60 is clear. At the close of voting at the polling unit, the voting results will be uploaded, meaning that by the time the officer from the unit goes to the ward, he cannot present a result different from the one that was uploaded, which every voter can have access to it. And the same thing applies to the local government and the state, because there is evidence you have sent it to a server where it cannot be manipulated.
“By what Okoye said it means they are creating the room and possibility for somebody to manipulate the result without prejudice to the counting and the result as announced at the unit. And where there is a conflict, that reliance will be placed on the manual collation. In other words, they are trying to go around the provisions of the Electoral Act to take us back to where we are coming from.
“Sadly, they are trying to find a solution where there is no problem because this same electronic upload and transmission has been done in Anambra, Ekiti, in Edo and Osun and they were successful, that procedure has not been challenged.
“There must be strict compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act with respect to electronic upload and transmission of result, without prejudice to what INEC is thinking about bringing. We must never try to change the procedure that has worked in these states mentioned. It must be free, it must be transparent. We don’t want litigation. We want the voice and the will of the people to prevail in Nigeria,” Bwala warned.
