An agent representing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dino Melaye, on Monday protested the presidential election results from Ekiti State that were announced on Sunday.
Development Diaries reports that there was drama at the Abuja International Conference Centre as Melaye fiercely insisted that the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, projects the results from its Results Viewing Portal (IReV).
He insisted that the INEC chairman must not accept the results of Ekiti, alleging that there were incidents of over-voting and electoral irregularities.
Millions of Nigerians had trooped out to elect the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari and federal lawmakers on Saturday, 25 February.
Before the polls opened, INEC had promised to start uploading results from polling units to the portal as soon as counting ended.
However, almost 24 hours after voting ended, scanty results of the polls had been uploaded, raising concerns over election transparency.
But in a statement by its Commissioner for Voter Education, Festus Okoye, INEC said it was aware of the challenges and blamed technical hitches.
Generally, logistics challenges, overvoting, voter inducement, delay in uploading polling unit results to IReV, violence amongst others were challenges identified during the polls.
The INEC chairman had written to Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general election reiterating the commission’s commitment to free, fair and credible polls.
In fact, he pledged total loyalty of the commission to Nigerians who want free, fair, credible and verifiable elections supported by technology, which guarantees transparent accreditation and upload of polling unit results for citizens to view in real-time on election day.
In July 2022, he also promised to deliver the best general election in Nigeria in 2023 as he received delegations from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and that of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Abuja.
Development Diaries believes that the gaps and unpreparedness within the structure of the electoral process threaten the credibility of the elections.
We, therefore, call on INEC to make a clear statement on the areas affected by violence and where logistics challenges prevented voting from holding.
We also call on the electoral umpire to further ensure it adheres strictly to the provisions of the 2022 Electoral Act.
Photo source: Business Day
