INEC: We’re at Crossroads over e-Transmission of Results

•Commends CJN for saving judiciary over conflicting court orders

•Says commission ready to perform its regulatory role in parties

Chuks Okocha

Prelude to the 2023 general election and particularly, the November 6 governorship election in Anambra State, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it was at crossroads over electronic transmission of results.

Subsequently, the commission has announced the introduction of new measures, such as the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to be used as fingerprint authentication to perform the functions of both the Smart Card Reader (SCR) and Z-Pad in the bye-elections.

The INEC National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed these, however, commended the Chief Justice of the Federation, Ibrahim Mohammad, for intervening in the conflicting orders often given by courts of coordinate jurisdiction, saying instances have made the duties of the commission a lot more difficult.

He also promised that the commission would start to discharge its responsibilities as a regulator in the affairs of political parties, especially as it concerns internal crisis in the parties, stressing that beyond being the electoral umpire, it was also a regulator of the activities of the parties.

These, nonetheless, the INEC has hinted that about 2,729,819 Nigerians had so far registered online, while some 717,947 others had completed real time registration as eligible voters.

Speaking at a consultative meeting with leaders of political parties yesterday in Abuja, Yakubu said, “The reality is that technology always advances with the passage of time. Consequently, the Commission must keep pace with the ever-changing world of global information and communication technology. We are at one such crossroads at the moment.”

He explained that, while working on the register of voters, the Commission has also been continuously innovating on how to strengthen the credibility of voter accreditation and result management during elections in Nigeria.

According to him, the deployment of appropriate technology was crucial and desirable, adding that, “The introduction of the machine-readable PVC combined and Smart Card Reader (SCR) were important innovations. So, too, is the uploading of polling unit results in real-time on Election Day.

“Many stakeholders, including leaders of political parties, have called on the Commission to strengthen the voter accreditation process during elections, especially, with reference to the use of incident form, where the SCR fails to authenticate the fingerprints of a voter.

“Such concern is legitimate given the fact that the SCR successfully verifies any card that belongs to the polling unit for which it is configured irrespective of who presents it. Their apprehension, therefore, is that using the incident form to cover those whose fingerprints are not authenticated by the SCR, a voter may be able to use another person’s PVC to vote during an election,” he explained.

To address this concern, he said the Commission attempted to introduce the facial biometric authentication during accreditation of the voters using the Z-Pad tablet to complement the fingerprint process through the Card Reader before the Edo governorship election in September 2020.

However, he said the commission was not entirely satisfied with the pilot held in the Nasarawa Central State Constituency bye-election a month earlier in August 2020.

“We, therefore, suspended the idea to enable us to do some more work. Over the last one year, we reviewed the situation and we think we have found the appropriate technology to address it. The Z-pad was therefore only used to upload Polling Unit results to the IReV portal during elections,” he said.

Accordingly, the INEC said the functionality of the Z-pad has now been integrated into the IVED currently being used for voter registration.

On the day of election, he said, “the same device will be used for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for fingerprint authentication during accreditation and where it fails for facial authentication.

“We believe that this multi-layer process will eliminate the possibility of voting by identity theft using another person’s PVC. Where the voter fails both the fingerprint and facial authentication, he/she will not be allowed to vote. In other words, no electronic authentication, no voting.

“We are convinced that the new machine is robust enough to further guarantee the credibility of voter authentication and transparent management of results during elections.

“Accordingly, the commission intends to carry out a pilot exercise using the new device in Delta State during the Isoko South 1 State Assembly constituency bye-election holding this weekend (Saturday 11th September 2021).

“The BVAS will now perform the functions of both the SCR and Z-Pad in the bye-election. Thereafter, it will be deployed in the Anambra governorship election in November. There will be a presentation of the new device and a practical demonstration of its functions to Chairmen and leaders of political parties at this meeting,” Yakubu stated.

On the conflicting judgements emanating from the same courts of coordinate jurisdiction, Yakubu said, “I cannot conclude my remarks without touching on the issue of litigations, particularly, the conflicting orders emanating from Courts of coordinate jurisdiction. I am aware that some of the cases are still in Court and therefore subjudice.

“I must say that some of the decided cases are making our work difficult and we have been crying out loud for a long time. In particular, some pre-election litigations relating to the nomination of candidates for elections were not determined until after the elections.

“Consequently, in some instances, political parties were declared winners without candidates to immediately receive the Certificates of Return on account of protracted and conflicting litigations or where Courts, rather than votes, determine winners of elections.

“This situation is compounded by cases on the leadership of political parties, thereby making the exercise of our regulatory responsibilities difficult. It appears that in a number of electoral cases in Nigeria today, the settled law is now unsettled and the time-honoured principle of Stare decisis does not seem to matter any longer.

“What is most disconcerting for us is that the more INEC strives to improve the credibility and transparency of our electoral process, the more extraneous obstacles are put in our way through litigations. However, the Commission appreciates the recent statement by His Lordship, the Chief Justice of Nigeria as well as the strongly worded concern by the Nigerian Bar Association.

“We will work with both the Bar and the Bench to defend the electoral process in the best interest of our democracy. By the same token, as Chairmen and leaders of political parties, you have a role to play. I wish to remind you that INEC is both an umpire and a regulator. The Commission is an umpire in dealing even-handedly with political parties collectively, but when it comes to the management of intra-party affairs, it is a regulator. We will play our role decisively,” he stated.

Giving update on the continuous voter registration exercise, he said as at yesterday, Monday, September 6, 2021, some 2,729,819 fresh voters had pre-registered online, adding also that, “So far, 717,947 Nigerians have completed their registration at the designated centres.”

On the age and gender distribution of those that have registered, the INEC chairman said, “For instance, in terms of age, young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 34 constitute 65% of new registrants and 72% of completed registrations so far.

“In terms of occupation, students constitute 32% of the new registrants and 42% of completed registrations and remain the largest category since the exercise began 11 weeks ago. The latest detailed statistics have been uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms. Hard copies are also included in your folders for this meeting”.

Speaking on the Anambra governorship election, Yakubu said going by the timetable released, it was exactly two months (or 60 days) to the election.

In view of this, he explained that the Commission had devolved the CVR to the 326 Registration Areas (or Wards) in addition to the 21 local government offices and the state office of the Commission.

He posited that the physical exercise was suspended on Sunday, which was 60 days to the election as required by Section 9(5) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

However, he claimed that the online pre-registration option would continue to be available but no appointment for completion of registration could be scheduled until after the election.

The INEC chairman assured the people that the commission would use the next few weeks to compile the register of voters for claims and objections, clean up the data, print the PVCs for collection by registrants and compile the register for each of the 5,720 polling units in the state.

He promised that every newly registered voter in Anambra, including those, who applied to transfer from within and outside the state or for the replacement of damaged or lost PVCs, that their cards would be printed and made available to them for collection before the election.

He noted that each political party fielding candidates in the election would be given a copy of the voters’ register on October 7, 2021, as published in the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the elections.