The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Officers (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, has acknowledged that the Commission experienced glitches in transmitting results through the IReV during the presidential elections.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the INEC boss made the disclosure in a session with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on the review of the 2023 General Elections.
Yakubu also revealed that the activities of thugs deployed by politicians made the election day administration very difficult. He said that while voter accreditation using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was very successful, the uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), especially for the presidential election, encountered a glitch.
The INEC Chairman said that the Commission is aware that this matter is currently the subject of litigation and would reserve its comments for now. However, he said that the performance of the technology deployed for the election is part of the ongoing review of the 2023 General Election and that it will form an integral part of the comprehensive report that will serve as a basis for further engagement with stakeholders focusing on specific actions necessary for the improvement of future elections and electoral activities in Nigeria.
He said: “Nevertheless, as you are aware, there were many challenges encountered before and during the elections. The severe cash and fuel situations were compounded by the perennial insecurity nationwide. Their impact on our deployment plans, compounded by the behaviour of some of our own officials in the field, made logistics management particularly challenging.
“The deployment of thugs by some political actors made election day administration difficult in a number of places. While voter accreditation using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was very successful, the uploading of results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), especially for the presidential election, encountered a glitch as explained in our statement released by the Commission on 26th February 2023. The Commission is aware that this matter is currently the subject of litigation and would reserve its comments for now.
“Nevertheless, the performance of the technology deployed for the election is part of the ongoing review of the 2023 General Election. It will form an integral part of the comprehensive report that will serve as a basis for further engagement with stakeholders focusing on specific actions necessary for the improvement of future elections and electoral activities in Nigeria.”
Yakubu also clarified that the Commission did not receive any direct funding or cash support from international development partners, and that their support was totally indirect through civil society organizations and implementing partners working on elections.
He thanked the CSOs and development partners for their enormous support to the Commission during the 2023 General Elections, and urged the accredited observer groups that have not yet submitted their reports to do so in earnest.
