The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected claims of result manipulation from a polling unit in Abuja, attributing a widely shared numerical discrepancy to a clerical error and reaffirming the integrity of its electoral technology.
The controversy arose from social media reports following Saturday’s Area Council election in Yangoji Ward, Kwali Area Council. The allegations stated that a political party received 1,219 votes at the Kuroko Health Centre polling unit, despite there being only 345 registered voters and 213 accredited individuals. INEC described this claim as inaccurate.
In a statement, the commission explained that the error originated with the Presiding Officer’s initial result recording. The officer mistakenly wrote “122” for the party in question but later identified the mistake during ballot tallying. After an open recount, the figure was corrected to 121 votes. The process involved the officer cancelling the final digit “2” and rewriting it as “1” to achieve the correct total.
INEC emphasized that the corrected figure of 121 votes is the official result uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal and used in subsequent collation at the ward and Area Council levels. Party agents present at the polling unit confirmed and signed this final result, the commission noted.
The core of INEC’s defense rests on its technological safeguards. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) is designed to prevent over-voting by automatically rejecting any total votes that exceed the number of accredited voters. Since 213 voters were accredited, entering 1,219 votes would have been instantly rejected by the device. All recorded votes from the unit remained consistent with the 213 accreditation figure.
INEC’s Result Viewing Portal, which publicly mirrors results directly from polling units, allows for independent verification. The commission stressed that this process, combined with the BVAS validation, makes the alleged manipulation technically impossible.
This incident highlights ongoing public scrutiny of electoral processes in Nigeria and the critical role of technology in fostering trust. INEC urged the public to rely solely on verified results from its official channels, reiterating that its systems include multiple checks against result falsification. The commission’s response aims to reassure voters ahead of future elections by underlining the transparency built into its result management framework.
