After giving Nigerians high hopes that it would conduct free, transparent and credible elections with the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and the electronic transmission of results for the 2023 general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission ended up failing to deliver on its promises. Adedayo Akinwale reports that with INEC’s failure to effectively utilise its improved technology, which had restored the confidence of the people in Nigeria’s electoral system, voter apathy may return in future elections
Penultimate Saturday, precisely on February 25, 2023, Nigerians trooped out to perform their civic duties to choose the next President and members of the National Assembly. The expectations were very high, mobilisation was huge in the urban areas and all eyes were on the electoral umpire, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). From the reports garnered so far, voter turn-out was impressive in some areas and average in others, due mainly to a number of factors, ranging from voter apathy, fear of attack by political thugs, intimidation, political tension and restriction of movement.
It was a crucial vote for Nigeria. It took Nigerians so much to put together the new Electoral Act, 2022, the highpoint of which was to de-emphasise incidences of human intervention in the voting process.
With the experiences in Edo, Ekiti, Anambra and Osun gubernatorial elections, Nigerians expected INEC to be on top of its game in the presidential election, especially in the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the transmission of results electronically and the subsequent announcements. But this was not to be as voters waited endlessly for INEC to upload the results electronically as it had promised on countless occasions.
Before the elections, Nigerians had expressed doubt over the willingness of INEC to use BVAS and e-transmission of results, but the commission came out boldly and confidently told Nigerians that it had no plan to jettison the new innovations.
At a two-day capacity-building workshop for INEC press corps members on critical issues in the Electoral Act, 2022 and the commission’s processes, innovations, and preparations for the elections, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, again gave the assurance that the use of BVAS in the elections was a sine qua non.
Yakubu who was represented by the National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, noted that the goal of the commission was electoral justice where every Nigerian would experience electoral fulfillment. According to him, the commission would continue to use technology to improve and enhance the credibility of elections in Nigeria.
“The BVAS and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) will be deployed for the conduct of the 2023 general election. We will continue to use technology to improve and enhance the credibility of elections in Nigeria. Our goal is electoral justice where every Nigerian will experience electoral fulfillment,” he stated.
With the assurances by the electoral commission, many Nigerians who had never voted in their life due to the belief that their vote would never count, were cajoled to believe that the process would work perfectly, were proved wrong.
Unfortunately, on the day of the elections, not only were the BVAS jettisoned, the commission’s official resorted to manual accreditation and results were not transmitted to the IReV as promised, resulting in widespread agitations and complaints.
In its response to aggrieved Nigerians, INEC, which had given repeated assurances on the reliability of its technology turned around to give flimsy excuses on the election day.
In line with the Electoral Act, 2022, it is the statutory duty of INEC to upload the elections of Polling Units at the INEC portal as prescribed by Section 60 (5) and Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Election 2022.
The manner prescribed by the commission in transferring results and the total number of accredited voters is provided for in Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022.
Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 stipulates thus: “Upon completion of all the Polling Unit voting and results, procedures, the Presiding Officer shall:-(i) Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the Polling Unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the commission. (ii) Use BVAS to upload a scan of ES8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the commission. (iii) Take the BVAS and the original copy of each of the forms in tamper-evident envelope to the Registration Area/Ward Collation Officer, in the company of security agents. The polling agents may accompany the Presiding Officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre.”
However, in spite of the clear provisions of Section 60 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022, the commission resorted to doing otherwise by engaging the use of manual collation, apparently to manipulate the results. Many Nigerians have accused the commission of sabotaging its technology to achieve predetermined results.
It was not surprising that some preliminary reports by election observers scored INEC low in last elections.
The EU in its reports said INEC lacked efficient planning and transparency during critical stages of the electoral process, the trust in INEC was seen to further reduce due to delayed polling processes and information gaps related to much anticipated access to results on its Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
It pointed out that collation centres at ward level were not opened at all, particularly in the South-South and South-east where presiding officers were sent directly to the LGA collation centres.
Also, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) Joint Election Observation Mission (IEOM), led by former President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda, in its report said despite the much-needed reforms to the Electoral Act 2022, the election fell short of Nigerian citizens’ reasonable expectations.
It added that the challenges with the electronic transfer of results and their upload to a public portal in a timely manner, undermined citizen confidence at a crucial moment of the process.
Moreover, it noted that inadequate communication and lack of transparency by INEC about their cause and extent created confusion and eroded voters’ trust in the process, saying that the combined effect of these problems disenfranchised Nigerian voters in many areas, although the scope and scale is currently unknown.
It did not come as a surprise when former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his own assessment said it was no secret that INEC officials, at operational level, had been allegedly compromised to make what should have worked not to work and to revert to manual transmission of results which was manipulated and the results doctored.
With its conduct in the presidential and National Assembly elections, INEC has destroyed its impressive records in the previous elections and eroded people’s confidence in the electoral system.
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