Nigeria in Diaspora Organization (NIDO) has faulted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its
systemic failure to ensure instantaneous transmission of results to IReV at the conclusion of voting at polling units as originally planned
Addressing newsmen on its observations during the presidential and national assembly elections, the Chairman of the Organization, Dr. Ezekiel Macham, said the expectation was that after the manual input of the results into BVAS, the presiding INEC officer would immediately transmit the data into the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as stated in the Electoral Guidelines, but added that this was not done in the polling units observed.
He pointed out that this led to tension and suspicion amongst those still present at the unit, adding that INEC officials complained of glitches in the network and that the upload would be done later.
“For example, at one of the PUs in Surulere, the voters at the polling unit became agitated and demanded that the transmission be done in their presence. This confrontation became very tense. Eventually, the presence of the police saved the day, and the INEC officers were allowed to go.
“In all the polling units we observed, the results were finally secured and loaded for transport without any disruption.” Any willing persons present at that unit were allowed to take pictures of Form EC-8A for their future records.
According to him, NIDO is equally noted.
Note the widespread breakdown of the mechanism for uploading the EC-8A Forms to IReV at the polling units in real-time, as originally designed, adding that the lack of timely communication and transparency by INEC about these challenges gave room to suspicion, speculation, and insinuations.
He called on the INEC to always carry the public along, irrespective of the enormity of the challenges the Commission might be confronting, adding that every opportunity must be utilized to preempt any confusion and erosion of the voters’ trust in the electoral process.
Dr. Macham enjoined INEC to seek an amendment to the Electoral Act to allow electronic transmission and automated collation through direct submission of results in numerical format from the polling units into the INEC server.
The NIDO chairman further tasked
INEC to seek an amendment to the Electoral Act to allow electronic transmission and automated collation through direct submission of results in numerical format from the polling units into the INEC server.
He maintained that the submitted results must be free of human intervention, which occurs by way of the manual addition of numbers, and added that the automated tallied results should be live and accessible to the nation as the voting progresses.
Dr. Macham also suggested that the scanned hard copy evidence of Form EC8A transmitted via BVAS be used only to back up the raw data submitted from the polling units.
He advised the Commission and all pertinent stakeholders to take urgent action to address the lapses identified with a view to improving the conduct of subsequent elections, including the upcoming March 11th, 2023 governorship and state assembly elections.