INEC has breached trust of Nigerians  — Tony Ubani

Bola Badmus- Lagos

#FixPolitics Initiative-led by Tony Ubani on Thursday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of breaching the trust of Nigerians with its reported failure to upload February 25, 2023, General Elections results to its portal via the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in real-time, as promised by the electoral Umpire before the election.

Ubani, who is the Executive Director, #FixPolitics, expressed this concern in a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, saying that INEC was unprepared for the polls that were held last weekend.

Ubani noted that the various assurances by the commission’s officials that they were ready for the polls with the deployment of the BVAS failed to materialise, saying that this breach of trust had made the populace resent INEC and question the integrity of the ballot and its implication on the entire process.

“At a press conference in November 2022, INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu – conscious of growing public concern about the sincerity, transparency and commitment of the commission to credible elections, in which the votes of citizens will be respected – assured Nigerians the commission would upload polling results to its portal at the polling unit, immediately after voting, adding that citizens would have access to these results in real time,” he recalled.

According to the #FixPolitics Initiative boss, the performance and controversies over the results mean that the electoral reforms and lessons declared to have been learned were not applied, declaring that, INEC as an electoral body, was significantly less prepared than it claimed.

Ubani said it was this assurance and several others by INEC that built confidence among Nigerians to register to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), adding that it was also as a result of this confidence that voters went out enthusiastically to cast their votes on election day, despite the significant challenges of access to cash and high cost of transportation for those who had to travel. 

“The public even accepted the added burden of the closure of tertiary institutions as part of the sacrifice in reciprocity to the assurances by INEC of a vote that would count. Many returned from overseas to exercise their citizenship in the hope that the process would be transparent, free and their votes will count,” Ubani said.

He lamented that since the February 25 elections, the country had been saturated with reports, complaints, and protests from citizens, candidates, political party officials, civil society organisations, the media, local and international observers and well-meaning Nigerians. 

“The failure of INEC and widespread delayed opening of polling units meant that voters, who showed up at the polling stations early, were frustrated and many voters and INEC staff were not able to locate their polling units for several hours.

“Despite the different voices of dissent to the outcome of the election, three specific complaints cut across most of them: INEC’s failure and refusal to upload presidential election results, particularly in real time, to the INEC Result Viewing Portal; the complete lack of transparency in INEC’s processes; and the failure to follow its own regulations and processes,” he said.

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