By Akombo Aondona, Abuja
Following an uproar across the country, the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) has debunked media reports (not in The Dream Daily Newspaper) that it would collate the results of the 2023 General Elections manually.
INEC issued the rebuttal on Sunday, 21 August, 2022 through its National commissioner and Chairman information and voters Education Committee, Barr Festus Okoye, in Abuja
In a statement, Okoye assured that the Commission had no plans to drop electronic transmission of elections results, which it had tested successfully in some recent off-season elections for the old, discredited manual mode as misrepresented in some media reports.
There have been several media reports over the weekend that INEC had reversed from electronic transmission of results to manual mode ahead of 2023 general election following a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper by the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on the procedure for results management during elections.
However, Okoye wrote: “The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) attention has been drawn to a misunderstanding arising from a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper on the procedure for result management during elections. Some have interpreted the explanation on result management procedure to mean that the Commission has jettisoned the electronic transmission of result and reverted to the manual process. This is not correct.
“For clarity, the procedure for result transmission remains the same as in recent Governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States. There will be no change in all future elections, including the 2023 General Elections.
“We wish to reassure Nigerians that the electronic transmission of result has come to stay. It adds to the credibility and transparency of the process when citizens follow polling unit level results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal real-time on Election Day. There will be no change or deviation in subsequent elections.
“The entire gamut of result management is provided for in Sections 60, 62 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022. In line with the provision of the law, the Commission, in April this year, released a detailed clarification of the procedure for transmission, collation and declaration of result which was shared with all stakeholders and uploaded to our website.
“We appeal to all Nigerians to avail themselves of the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Commission’s detailed explanation of the procedure and not reach a conclusion on the basis of media headlines.”
Below is a copy of the INEC statement:
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