Some opposition parties criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday for failing to upload the results of Saturday’s presidential election to its website. GIFT HABIB reports on the ensuing controversy, highlighting the support from legal experts for INEC’s decision to proceed with the declaration of results. On Saturday, registered voters utilized their permanent voter cards to elect the next president, coinciding with elections for parliamentary representatives. Despite delays in the arrival of election officials and materials at numerous polling units, as well as technical issues with biometric identification machines, Nigerians awaited the immediate upload of election results to the INEC result viewing portal, as promised by INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu.
Yakubu had assured that results would be transmitted to the IReV portal in real-time on election day, emphasizing that the commission would not reverse its decision. During a meeting with foreign election observers last week, he clarified that raw election figures would not be transmitted electronically. Instead, presiding officers were instructed to use the Bimodal Voter Verification System (BVAS) to capture images of the results sheets from each polling unit and upload them to the IReV for public viewing. Yakubu explained that this decision was made to mitigate the risk of hacking, as raw figures are more vulnerable to manipulation. He stated, “The BVAS confirms that the cards issued by the commission and presented by the voter are genuine, and the voter is authenticated using the fingerprint and, where that fails, the facial recognition. If both fail, the voter cannot vote.”
The IReV was previously employed in recent off-season elections, including the Ekiti and Osun governorship polls, which enhanced the credibility of the electoral process. This portal is also supported by the Electoral Act 2022, which empowers INEC to utilize appropriate technologies for conducting elections in the country. However, national collation agents from various political parties walked out of the National Collation Centre on Monday, alleging rigging by INEC. They accused the commission of violating the Electoral Act by continuing with the result collation and announcement despite not uploading the results to the IReV portal. Agents from parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party echoed similar concerns.
Dino Melaye, representing the PDP, raised objections before Yakubu and urged the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Kwara State to proceed with announcing results from the North-Central state. He alleged over-voting in the results from the 16 local government areas of Ekiti State, citing Section 65 of the Electoral Act. Melaye pointed out discrepancies in the reported figures, stating, “I worked on the results as presented, and I discovered that we have 987,647 registered voters in Ekiti and 301,558 accredited. The results were presented on Sunday; the APC had 201,494 votes. If you subtract that from 301,558, what you have left is 100,064. The PDP received 89,554 votes out of a total of 100,064. If you subtract that from the balance of 100,064, you’ll have 10,510, and now it is also recorded that the Labour Party had 12,397 when the total left is 10,510. Meaning an over figure of 887.” He further accused the commission of bypassing the transmission of results through the IREV, contravening Section 47(3) of the Electoral Act.
Supporting Melaye, Labour Party National Secretary Faruk Ibrahim called for a review of the Ekiti results. Amid the ongoing controversy over result collation, records from INEC indicated that as of 6 PM on Tuesday, All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was leading with 6,142,419 votes, followed by PDP’s Atiku Abubakar with 4,647,554 votes, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi with 1,347,325 votes.
In previous elections, the PDP had also protested against INEC’s actions. In 2015, they accused then-INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega of bias and partiality, claiming he was secretly working for the APC. Former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godsday Orubebe and Col. Bello Fadile, representing the PDP at the Presidential Election Results Collation Centre, expressed their lack of confidence in Jega and demanded prompt action on their petitions regarding the elections in several northern states. In 2019, the PDP again urged INEC to halt the ongoing collation and announcement of results, alleging tampering with the figures being announced.
Legal experts weighed in on the situation, with Senior Advocate of Nigeria Matthew Burkaa stating that no one could halt the collation of results at the collation centre. He emphasized that political parties have agents present at each stage of the result collation process and advised that grievances should be addressed through legal channels if necessary. Burkaa explained, “An election is a process that begins at the polling units and ends at the collation centre. At that point, only collation remains to complete the process.” He noted that if discrepancies arise between the results held by party agents and those announced, it is the responsibility of the agents to raise concerns.
Another lawyer, Oludare Williams, acknowledged the right of individuals to voice complaints in a constitutional democracy. However, he suggested that aggrieved political parties should take their complaints to the tribunal with supporting evidence. Williams remarked, “Everybody has the right to complain, either rightly or wrongly, which cannot be challenged.” He cautioned against unrealistic demands, such as canceling elections or starting anew, and highlighted the complexities involved in conducting elections for millions of registered voters. He reiterated that if political parties believe their concerns are valid, they should pursue legal avenues to seek redress.
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