INEC to review gubernatorial and state assembly election results for election offenses

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised to thoroughly examine the results of Saturday’s gubernatorial and state assembly elections.

The election arbiter made the promise following allegations of voter harassment, incitement and manipulation of results in several states.

INEC also explained why it did not upload all the results of the February 25 presidential election to its results viewing portal, IReV.

A statement released by INEC spokesperson Festus Okoye read;

“The Commission did not go to 176,846 polling stations during the presidential and legislative elections. We explained to the Nigerians that there were polling stations that had no registered voters and therefore the Commission deployed to a total of 176,606 polling stations.

“Not only that, there have been places where elections have not taken place and there have been places where deployment has not taken place. So in these areas you would not expect the results to be uploaded to the INEC results viewing portal for these areas.

“As such, the commission, prior to reconfiguring the bimodal BVAS voter accreditation system for gubernatorial and state assembly elections, we ensured that the data left in the BVAS relating to presidential and in the National Assembly were being pushed to the backend for the purpose of giving those who want to go to court or give litigants the ability to have the data from the commission’s backend relating to those who were accredited in the presidential elections and in the National Assembly.

“Political parties and candidates have requested this particular data and the commission has made the accreditation data available to anyone who is interested.

“With the gubernatorial election, you can see that there has been an improvement in the performance of the IReV in terms of uploading polling station results in real time. You can also notice an improvement in performance in terms of Voter Identification and Authentication Now this means that the commission is making progress and also making efforts to overcome the challenges that have been recorded in the presidential and National Assembly elections.

“We have spared no effort in terms of the processes and procedures under the control of the Commission. However, for difficult and unforeseen circumstances beyond the control of the Commission, we have done our best to react, particularly when processes have been disrupted by actors over whom we have little or no control.

“Such diabolical behavior has not only affected citizens, but has also impacted Commission officials and processes. INEC staff, both regular and ad hoc, have been victims of violence. Some of our staff have been abducted, harassed, intimidated, hospitalized and, in one case, killed.

“Nevertheless, where we could not deploy to allow citizens to vote, the Commission took the decision to remobilize to such places to allow citizens to exercise their right to vote. Unfortunately, we were unable to extend the same to areas where voting was disrupted and election materials destroyed. We are keeping our eyes on these areas and will not hesitate to remobilize where the outcome of the elections is affected.

“At this time, tabulation of results and declaration of winners for the 28 gubernatorial elections and the 993 State Assembly election are underway nationwide. We are committed to the sanctity of the process and We will not hesitate to take drastic measures against proven irregularities Allegations of incitement to vote, harassment and manipulation of results will be investigated and addressed.

“He said the commission is still compiling figures regarding the number of abducted employees. Some have been released and others still face varying degrees of threats in various states of the Federation. At the end of the exercise, we will have all the details of the incidents.

“During the invasion of the Obingwa local government area office of INEC in Abia State by thugs while collecting the results of the gubernatorial and assembly elections State, the region’s results would be thoroughly scrutinized.

“Competiting was the aggregated result of registration areas for the gubernatorial election in this local government area. The intention was to force the collation of these contentious results. The behavior of these thugs is unacceptable and there will be a thorough examination of the results.

“The Commission does not take citizens’ patience for granted and will continue to take steps to protect the integrity of the vote and consolidate the progress made so far in the electoral process.”