POLITICS
INEC to Group: No Discrepancies in 2023 Presidential Election Results
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims of discrepancies between the results on its website and those presented by returning officers at the National Collation Centre, which were broadcast live.
The commission stated this in letter dated Aug. 15 to the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), which alleged to have found some discrepancies between the election results announced by INEC and the uploaded results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV).
INEC in the letter signed by the Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr Rotimi Oyekanmi, said that there was are no “differences” in the number of polling units and registered voters in the listed States.
INEC also maintained that the total number of polling units and registered voters remained as announced by the commission.
The commission said that it “does not announce election results on YouTube” adding that the 2023 presidential election results were announced at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, in the presence of stakeholders, including the media.
“You listed three YouTube video links from Channels Television, showing the interactions between the State Returning Officers of Imo, Abia, and Zamfara States and the INEC Chairman at the National Collation Centre, Abuja.
“It is important to note that the Returning Officers of the 36 States of the FCT are required to present their presidential election result individually to the Chief Returning Officer of the Federation for the Presidential election, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who is also the INEC Chairman.
“But contrary to your observations, there were no contradictions in the video clips.
“In conformity with the established procedure, the Returning Officer, in each clip, announced in descending order, the total valid votes, rejected votes, total votes cast, cancelled votes (if any), the specific areas where such votes were cancelled, and where the election did not hold with reasons.
“Party agents were subsequently allowed to make observations or raise objections after each announcement, but there was none in all the video clips,” INEC said.
The commission also stated that the centre did not disaggregate and articulate its data in the other listed examples-Imo, Edo, Delta, Lagos, Cross River, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Zamfara States.
“For instance, in Edo, you gave the following account: 185 Pus, 111,683 Registered Voters (Election Papers), PUs (YouTube) 54, Registered Voters (YouTube) 36,264; Difference: 131 Pus/75,419 Registered Voters.
“However, the Presidential election was conducted in 176,606 PUs, spread across 8,809 Wards in 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory.
“Supplementary elections were also held in 23 States on April 5, 2023 for various reasons captured under chapter 11 of the Report of the 2023 General Election.
“To that extent, we need to know the State, Local Government Area (LGA), Ward and specific polling unit being referred to for proper evaluation of your enquiries and to enable us to provide the required information.
“Unfortunately, the precise information necessary to address your enquiries was missing.
INEC, however, insisted that there no differences in the number of polling units and registered voters in the listed states.
It said that the total number of polling units and registered voters remains as announced by the commission.
It stated that the result of an election may be cancelled for specific reasons, including violence, over-voting and refusal to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), as stipulated in the extant laws.
“At the same time, the conditions for making a return when the result of an election is cancelled or declared null and void in specific polling units have also been explained in the Electoral Act 2023 and the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections (2022).
INEC added that its comprehensive 468-page Report of the 2023 General Election officially released in March 2024 and immediately uploaded to its website www.inecnigeria.org, already provided answers to the raised questions by the centre.
It advised the centre to read the full details on its website www.inecnigeria.org.
“The results of the 2023 Presidential election presented by our 36 State Returning Officers and the Returning Officer for the FCT at the National Collation Centre, Abuja are official and authentic.
“The figures quoted in your letter purportedly from some local government areas in Imo State are inconsistent with the details/results presented publicly by the Imo State Returning Officer at the National Collation Centre, Abuja.
The commission pledged to continue to improve its processes and procedures after every election.
The centre relying on Freedom of Information Act in its letter dated Aug. 7 sought INEC clarification on “discrepancies between the election results announced on YouTube by INEC compared with the results from the election papers uploaded into IREV.”
The centre alleged that “overall, in the broadcasted announcements, INEC reported 1,578 polling units (PUs) where voting was canceled because of irregularities.
“No figures were given for the reason, though officials cited overvoting, violence and other irregularities. The total registered voters was about 1,205,000 voters.
It alleged that in the documents filed in IREV, INEC polling workers reported 2,203 polling units (Pus) where voting was canceled because of irregularities.
“Violence was the leading reason, covering about half of the polling stations affected. The total registered voters was about 1,221,000 voters,” the centre alleged among others. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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