Imo, Bayelsa, Kogi guber polls: INEC gets another chance to restore electoral confidence

 

Barely 72 hours before the governorship elections in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states, many Nigerians have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to use the forthcoming off-season polls as an opportunity to address the confidence deficit in the country’s electoral process.

These calls came amid divided opinions and controversies that followed the outcome of the 2023 general elections.

LAGOSTREND reported that the alleged non-compliance with the 2022 electoral law by INEC was one of the grounds on which the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and that of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, challenged the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the February 25 presidential election.

Although Atiku and Obi lost their petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) and the Supreme Court, respectively, they argued that INEC did not follow the provisions of the 2022 electoral act and its own rules in conducting the election.

They insisted that INEC breached its regulations and guidelines by not prescribing and deploying technological devices for voter accreditation, verification, continuation, and authentication as required.

The claim has since been dismissed by the PEPC and the Supreme Court.

However, the Supreme Court particularly acknowledged that the non-functioning of the Result Viewing (IReV) portal of the Electoral Commission may reduce the confidence of the voting public in the electoral process.

“Truth must be told, the non-functioning of the IReV may also reduce the confidence of the voting public in the electoral process,” Justice John Okoro said while delivering the lead judgment in the appeal by the forthcoming November 11 Bayelsa governorship election, many Nigerians described it as a serious setback.

However, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, denied the rumours that the results of the November 11 off-cycle elections will be transmitted manually.

Yakubu said accreditation for the election will be done using the BVAS machine before and after voting, confirming it would be used to snap and upload the results on the INEC Election Result Viewing portal.

Please disregard whatever anyone has said about the transmission of results,” he said.