INEC Speaks On Cancelling 2023 Presidential Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared its position on the possibility of nullifying the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.

INEC in its declaration, maintained that alleged infractions being raised by some stakeholders are not enough reasons for the February 25 exercise to be nullified.

The electoral umpire made its stand known on Tuesday as part of its response to the petitions by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar over the outcome of the election.

Atiku in his petition had argued that the results of the February 25 presidential election had put the entire judicial system of the country on trial, adding that there is “empirical evidence” of how the presidential election results were manipulated in favour of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

But INEC through its lawyer, Abubakar Mahmood, held that the alleged controversies trailing the final result declaration as claimed by PDP and Atiku were not substantial enough to cancel the entire process.

The electoral body also denied working in favour of any party or candidate and maintained that the presidential election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 and INEC’s Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections 2022.

According to INEC “No act of non-compliance (if any) was substantial enough to have affected the outcome of the election or result declared.”

INEC added that, “The summation of the result declared is consistent with the number of duly accredited voters. There was no act of infraction, as alleged by the petitioners, that is substantial enough to nullify the election.”

INEC told the tribunal that contrary to the claims of the petitioners, the 2023 presidential election was free, fair and credible.

It added that technological devices, such as Permanent Voter Card (PVC), Electronic Voter Register (EVR), and (BVAS), among others, were deployed to enhance the ease, credibility, transparency and integrity of the electoral process. However, the BVAS machine “was not designed for real time transmission of election results for the purpose of collation.”

The commission stated that the public statements credited to its chairman and other officials referred to in paragraph 19 of the petition were statements assuring the public of its commitment and determination to continue the use of technology and technological devices to enhance the quality, transparency, integrity and credibility of the electoral process as provided under the Electoral Act 2022.

It stated, “Contrary to the assertion of the petitioners in paragraph 19 of the Petition, the 1st Respondent has no electronic collation system by which real-time transmission of polling unit results was to be made or that such alleged electronic transmission of polling unit results was to form the basis for the collation of results at various collation levels.

“The 1st Respondent further states that although it is empowered by the Regulations to prescribe an ‘Electronic Collation System’, none was prescribed by it for use during the 2023 general election, including the presidential election of 25 February 2023.”