By Emmanuel Oloniruha
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured Nigerians that the electronic transmission of election result has come to stay.
The commission gave the clarification in a statement titled: “Clarification on Electronic Transmission of Election Result” signed by Mr Festus Okoye, National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, in Abuja on Sunday.
Okoye said that electronic transmission of result would be deployed for all future elections and the 2023 general elections.
He said the commission’s attention had been drawn to a misunderstanding arising from a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper on the procedure for result management during elections.
Okoye said that some had interpreted the explanation on result management procedure to mean that the commission had 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 . 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 on real-time on election day.
“There will be no change or deviation in subsequent elections.”
Okoye said the entire gamut of result management was provided for in Sections 60, 62 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022.
He said that in line with the provision of the law, the commission, in April 2022, released a detailed clarification of the procedure for transmission, collation and declaration of result which was shared with all stakeholders and uploaded on INEC website.
Okoye appealed 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.(NAN)
