FixPolitics: INEC wasn’t ready for elections | Commission breached Nigerians’ trust

FixPolitics, a civil society organisation (CSO), says the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) breached the trust of Nigerians over its failure to upload election results to its portal in real time.

The commission has come under criticism when it could not electronically transmit all results to the results viewing portal.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Anthony Ubani, executive director of FixPolitics, said was ill-prepared for the election despite assurances it was ready for the polls with the deployment of the bimodal voter automated system (BVAS).

Ubani said Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman had in November 2022, assured Nigerians that the commission would upload results to its portal immediately after voting, which would enable citizens to have access to the results in real-time.

He said it was this assurance and several others by INEC that built confidence among Nigerians to register to collect their permanent voter cards.

“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 statement reads.

“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, and free and that their votes will count.

“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.”

“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.”