• Asks Commission to announce fix before March 11 polls
Christian leaders, under the aegis of Nigeria Christian Elders Coalition, have accused Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of dashing the hopes of Nigerians through its handling of last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.
The group lamented that after so many years of democracy and expectations, the Commission has drawn the nation to a point of avoidable crises and brought legitimacy of the polls into disrepute.
Speaking on behalf of the coalition in Abuja, Senior Pastor of Family Worship Centre, Sarah Omakwu, said the most distressing aspect in the conduct of the polls was alleged refusal by INEC to electronically transmit results directly from polling units to its IReV portal, as required by the Electoral Act.
She expressed disappointment that INEC, which led the enactment of a new Electoral Act that mandates electronic transmission, didn’t comply with the provisions, thereby, rendering the results dubious and unreliable.
Omakwu decried the failure of INEC to comply, particularly, with Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 38 of the Regulation and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022, which makes it mandatory to electronically transmit results of elections from polling units.
She said: “This failure is unbelievable and surprising, considering that the heart of the new Electoral Law is the mandatory electronic transmission of results, to enhance credibility of the process.
“INEC has used this reliable method in off-season gubernatorial elections in Anambra, Osun and Ekiti without significant hitches. In addition, INEC demonstrated the reliability of electronic transmission, recently, and gave assurance that it was ready to use the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), both for accreditation and electronic transmission of results in the 2023 general elections.”
According to her, “we can recall several instances when either the Chairman of the Commission or the Commissioner in charge of Voter Education assured the nation that election results would be transmitted electronically from the polling units.
“We are further pained beyond measure that our beloved country has been dragged again to the precipice because of deliberate failure by the INEC to comply with its own regulation and the electoral law.” She urged INEC to inform Nigerians of the administrative actions it intends to take to rectify the breach ahead of the March 11 Governorship and Houses of Assembly elections.
