Situation Room: Tribunal judgement exposes ‘innovative reforms’ to INEC’s discretionary powers

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room says the judgement of the presidential election petitions tribunal may have negative implications for the use of technology in the conduct of elections. 

Situation Room in a statement on Friday by Yunusa Ya’u, its convener, said it is concerned that the judgement may have raised questions about the gains made with the deployment of the INEC results viewing portal (IReV) and the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) for elections.

On Wednesday, the tribunal upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 election.

The tribunal, led by Haruna Tsammani, dismissed the petitions filed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and Allied Peoples Movement (APM), challenging Tinubu’s victory.

In a unanimous decision, the tribunal held that all petitions were “devoid of merit”.

The tribunal also said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is at liberty to determine its mode of transmitting election results.

The five-man panel added that the electoral act did not mandate the commission to transmit results electronically.

Reacting to the ruling, Situation Room said it is worried that innovations such as IREV and BVAS that were seen as game changers in the conduct of elections are now exposed to danger.

“As a group with significant years of knowledge and experience on elections – both in the field and in the policy space, Situation Room is concerned that the judgment may have raised questions regarding the gains made with the passage of the Electoral Act 2022, particularly reforms that introduce technology in elections and require INEC to issue guidelines for the elections and implement it.

“It will be recalled that the 2022 Electoral Act was hailed by stakeholders as a milestone achievement and progressive legislation mostly due to the incorporation of technological innovations in the electoral legal framework.

“For many, the innovations were expected to promote transparency in the electoral process. Of note are the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) and the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which were described as game changers that would guarantee transparency and seamless management of elections.

“The Electoral Act 2022 provided safeguards indicating the need for INEC to be innovative in developing procedures that will help eliminate the human element regarding the conduct of elections.

“It seems to us that these innovative reforms may now face challenges as the Tribunal has opened the implementation of these reforms to INEC’s human discretionary powers. This is indeed worrying for our electoral system.

“While some discretion may be necessary for flexibility in election administration, it is important that there are accountability mechanisms to prevent arbitrariness.

“Citizens look to the Judiciary to serve as a check on this discretionary power to ensure that administrative decisions are implemented in a transparent manner, and most importantly, in the public interest.

“It is also important to add that public funds were appropriated by the National Assembly and invested on these technological innovations, which were developed and publicised by INEC.”

Situation Room added that it is within the rights of the petitioners to further dispute or accept the judgement of the tribunal.

The organisation said it would continue to pursue legislative advocacy that would require INEC to mandatorily implement reforms passed by the legislature.

“Situation Room will continue to monitor closely how litigations around the general election evolve especially at the Supreme Court level and will be pursuing further legislative advocacy that will require INEC to mandatorily implement reforms passed by Nigeria’s Legislature.”