#NigeriaDecides2023: Bode George Hails Buhari And Blast INEC

Former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Deputy National Chairman Bode George has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for modernizing Nigeria’s electoral system but lambasted the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for not taking effective advantage of the available technology.

Bode George who spoke with reporters in Lagos on Monday, two days after the Saturday presidential and National Assembly elections urged the electoral body to transmit the election result electronically as initially anticipated.

According to the PDP chieftain, INEC is a disappointment for returning to the manual method of collating the election results.

Bode George said: “It is disheartening to learn that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed the position that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), meant for the seamless transmission of election results electronically into the commission’s server is failing, and thus, necessitating the reversal to the manual system.

“This is against the standard for the election and it is not acceptable at all, as we are being taken back to the period of misery when election results were manipulated between the polling units and the collation centers.”

He continued, “It is the most despicable shameful act, after the certification of the veracity of the BVAS, for the transmission process of results, which was attested to, by the mock process successfully embarked on by INEC before the election, coupled by the successful deployment of the system for the Ekiti, Anambra, and Osun governorship elections.

“How can we accept this uncivilized abuse against an established electoral reform already gazetted and entrenched as Electoral Act in our constitution?

“The transmission of the ongoing collation for the Presidential and National Assembly election results must be transmitted electronically as enunciated by INEC.

“INEC, should not succumb to any pressure, to force to alternate the results from the polling units, as history would judge the Chairman of the electoral body, who swore to an oath to ensure a free, fair, and credible electoral process.

“In the event of being pressured to alternate results of the election, the INEC Chairman should raise his voice for Nigerians to hear or step down from his position.”