Anxiety as INEC keeps Nigerians waiting 

Anxiety in the polity reached feverish peak, yesterday, as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the third time, shifted the announcement of Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly election to 11 a.m today.

However, before adjourning announcement to Monday, the INEC National Collation Centre, chaired by INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced the result for Ekiti.

Results from most states of the country were being collated at the state level at press time as complaints about the slow response rate of the INEC Result Viewing, IREV, Portal, reigned.

Reports from the states showed that Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, won Osun, Adamawa and was doing well in some Northern states. Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party, LP was winning in the South-East, Edo, and made impact in Lagos and Abuja.

All Progressives Congress, APC’s Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, was leading in South-West, won some councils in Rivers and others in the North.

Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Party, NNPP, was leading in Kano and making inroads in some Northern states.

The electoral umpire had initially fixed 12 p.m yesterday for the announcement of the result. It later shifted it to 6p.m, yesterday before postponing it to 11 a.m today. 

This happened as House Representatives Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, led a crop of serving Reps, who retained their seats just as Ebonyi State Governor won his election for Ebonyi South Senatorial zone. Also Senate spokesperson, Ajibola Basiru, was among senators who failed to return.

How Tinubu won in Ekiti

At the collation of the results of the presidential election, which began at 6:50p.m, the State Collation Officer for the Presidential Election SCOPE in Ekiti State, Prof. Akeem Olawale Lasisi said elections took place in all the 16 local councils.

However, he said results from a polling unit in Ado Ekiti and another from a unit in Ekiti East Local Government Area were cancelled “due to bypass of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS and over-voting”.

Giving a breakdown of the figures, he said the All Progressives Congress, APC, polled 201,494 votes; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, garnered 89,554; Labour Party, LP, got 11,397 while the Social Democratic Party, SDP, polled 2,011 votes.

Total number of accredited voters was put at 315,058, while the total valid votes stood at 308,171. Also, the total number of rejected votes was 6,301 even as the total votes cast was 314, 472.

Speaking after receiving the results, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said more results would be expected in the wee hours, saying provisions had been made for an efficient transport system for the state collation officers. He consequently adjourned proceedings to 11am on Monday.

Results safe on 

BVAS, INEC assures Nigerians

Against complaints about the slow response rate of its result viewing portal, INEC has assured Nigerians that the development was not due to an intrusion of its systems by external forces, assuring that all results, including those not yet uploaded to the portal, remained safe on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.

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INEC said the results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“The Commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady. The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process,” INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said yesterday.

According to him, the problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, state elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections.

He said it is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations.

“Consequently, the Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.

“Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.

“We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the polling units, copies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal. These results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.


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