The Peter Obi Support Network (POSN) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to cease the collation of presidential election results and adhere to the provisions outlined in the Electoral Act. According to the Act, results must be uploaded and transmitted to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by Alhaji Ismaila Savu, the Directorate of Information for POSN condemned INEC for failing to comply with its own regulations regarding the transmission of results.
The group highlighted that INEC has disregarded the established guidelines for result transmission, despite previous assurances to the public. The statement referenced Section 60 of the Electoral Act, which mandates that the presiding officer must enter the votes scored by each candidate into a prescribed form after counting the votes at the polling unit. Furthermore, Section 60(5) stipulates that the presiding officer is responsible for transferring the results, including the total number of accredited voters and ballot results, in a manner prescribed by the Commission.
Additionally, under Section 148 of the Electoral Act of 2022, INEC is empowered to issue regulations, guidelines, or manuals to facilitate the implementation of the Act. These regulations encompass the conduct of elections, accreditation, voting procedures, and the collation of election results. Article 38 of the Electoral guidelines specifically addresses the electronic transmission of results, stating that upon completion of voting and results procedures at polling units, the presiding officer must electronically transmit the results directly to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission. This includes using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A form to the IReV and delivering the original forms in a tamper-evident envelope to the Registration Area/Ward Collation Office, accompanied by security agents.
The POSN emphasized that the IReV was established to facilitate real-time transmission of election results from polling units to the central collation center, thereby enhancing transparency and reducing the potential for vote rigging and election manipulation. The platform allows voters and other stakeholders to monitor the electoral process and view ongoing election results in real-time, including images of results from each polling unit, the number of votes cast for each candidate, and the percentage of total votes.
However, during the recent presidential election, INEC polling agents reportedly failed to upload scanned copies of the EC8A forms to the IReV, thus neglecting to electronically transmit the results to the collation system. Polling officials cited various obstacles that hindered the upload and transmission, including issues such as incorrect passwords, lack of passwords, network connectivity problems, low device battery, and malfunctioning of the presidential IReV.
When approached for clarification, INEC spokesperson Mr. Felix Okoye described the situation as a mere glitch, assuring that the IReV would be operational shortly. Despite these assurances, the chairman of INEC proceeded with the collation of results and began receiving submissions from state returning officers without the required results being transmitted or uploaded to the IReV. This action constitutes a violation of existing laws that mandate all results to be uploaded and transmitted to the IReV.
In light of these developments, POSN has urged the Commission to immediately halt the ongoing return exercise and the announcement of results until the necessary uploads and transmissions to the IReV are completed.
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