Halt ongoing Collation of Presidential Election Results, Peter Obi Support Group Tells INEC

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Peter Obi Support Network (POSN) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to stop the collation of results and comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act which stipulates that results must be uploaded and transmitted to INEC Result Viewing portal (IReV).

The POSN in a statement signed by Alhaji Ismaila Savu of the groups Directorate of Information, condemned the electoral body for violating its own laws on transmitting of results.

The group stated that INEC had violated all the stipulated guidelines on transmission of results despite assurances to the public.

The statement read in part, “Section 60 of the Electoral Act provides that the Presiding officer shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form to be prescribed by the Commission as the case maybe.

“Section 60(5) of the Electoral Act provides that the Presiding Officer shall transfer the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.

“Independent National Electoral Commission thereafter pursuant to Section 148 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the Commission may, subject to the provision of this Act, issue regulations, guidelines, or manuals for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act and for its determination.

“This regulation and guidelines cover elections and arrangement for their conduct, accreditation and voting procedure at elections, and collation of election results.

“In article 38 of the Electoral guidelines – Article 38 provides that electronic transmission of results and upload of results to IReV the commission stated that on completion of all the polling unit voting and results procedures, the presiding officer shall:

“Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the polling unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission; use the BVAS to upload a scanned copy of the EC8A to the IReV as prescribed by the Commission

“Take the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) and the original copy of each of the forms in tamper evident envelop to the registration Area/Ward Collation Office, in the company of security agents.

“The polling agents may accompany the Presiding Officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre. The IReV is a platform created by INEC in Nigeria to provide real-time transmission of election results from polling units to the central collation centre.”

It was designed to enhance the transparency of the electoral process and reduce the incidence of vote rigging and election manipulation.

“The IReV platform allows voters and other interested parties to monitor the electoral process and view the results of ongoing elections in real-time.

“The portal provides pictures of the election results from each polling unit, including the number of votes cast for each candidate and the percentage of total votes cast.

“The presidential election of 2023 was conducted on the 25th day of February 2023. Most of the election spilled to the early hours of the 26th day of February 2023.

“During the collation of the results, INEC Polling agents refused, failed and neglected to upload scanned copies of the EC8A to the IReV therefore did not electronically transmit the result of the polling unit to the collection system.

“The polling officials mentioned several factors that stopped or inhibited the upload and transmission such as: wrong password, no password, no network, device low battery, and presidential IReV not working.”

It disclosed that when they approached INEC through its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, he had insisted that it was a mere glitch and that the IRev would be back in no time.

“To our greatest chagrin, the Chairman of INEC began to collate the results and start receiving results from the state returning officers without these results being transmitted or uploaded in the IReV.

“This is a violation of the extant laws that require all results to be uploaded and transmitted to IReV.

“We therefore request that the Commission should immediately halt the ongoing return exercise and announcement of results until these results are uploaded and transmitted to IRev.”