 |
| Tony Ubani |
#FixPolitics
Initiative has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of
breaching the trust of Nigerians with its reported failure to upload the February
25, 2023 general elections results to its portal via the Bimodal Voter
Accreditation System in real time, as it promised before the election.
Executive
Director, #FixPolitics, Tony Ubani, in a statement, noted the various
assurances by the commission’s officials that they were ready for the polls
with deployment of the BVAS. He accused INEC of unpreparedness for the polls.
He
stated, “At a press conference in November 2022, INEC Chairman, Professor
Mahmood Yakubu – conscious of growing public concern about the sincerity,
transparency and commitment of the commission to credible elections, in which
the votes of citizens will be respected – assured Nigerians the commission would
upload polling results to its portal at the polling unit, immediately after
voting, adding that citizens would have access to these results in real time.
“The
performance and controversies over the results mean that the electoral reforms
and lessons declared to have been learned were not applied and, as an electoral
body, it was significantly less prepared than it claimed.”
According
to him, the commission had promised to upload polling unit results and that citizens
would have access to those results in real time as it uploads the results.
Yakubu
had stated in November, “The commission introduced this innovation. It cannot
turn around and undermine itself, as this technology has come to stay. We will
upload polling unit results from the polling units. Citizens will have the
right to view these results. After all, who are we serving? The citizens. How
can we deprive citizens access to the results of the process conducted by them
at the polling unit?
“I
assure and reassure you that the 2023 general elections will be our best ever
and we are committed that votes cast by Nigerians will determine the outcome of
the elections. Nothing more, nothing less.”
It is
this assurance and several others by INEC, #FixPolitics noted, that built
confidence among Nigerians to register to collect their Permanent Voter Cards.
Ubani
said, “It was also as a result of this confidence that voters went out
enthusiastically to cast their votes on election day, despite the significant
challenges of access to cash and high cost of transportation for those who had to
travel.
“The
public even accepted the added burden of the closure of tertiary institutions
as part of the sacrifice in reciprocity to the assurances by INEC of a vote
that would count. Many returned from overseas to exercise their citizenship in
the hope that the process would be transparent, free and their votes will
count.”
He
lamented that since the February 25 elections, the country had been saturated
with reports, complaints and protests from citizens, candidates, political
party officials, civil society organisations, the media, local and
international observers and well-meaning Nigerians.
“The
failure of INEC and widespread delayed opening of polling units meant that
voters, who showed up at the polling stations early, were frustrated and many
voters and INEC staff were not able to locate their polling units for several
hours.
“Despite
the different voices of dissent to the outcome of the election, three specific
complaints cut across most of them: INEC’s failure and refusal to upload
presidential election results, particularly in real time, to the INEC Result Viewing Portal; the
complete lack of transparency in INEC’s processes; and the failure to follow its
own regulations and processes,” he said.
This
breach of trust, he added, has made the populace to resent INEC and question
the integrity of the ballot and its implication on the entire process.