Technical Issues Prevented Transmission Of Presidential Poll Results – INEC Presiding Officers

In a Monday hearing at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC), three Presiding Officers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) voiced their frustrations.

They reported that technical glitches with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) prevented the transmission of presidential election results, complicating their roles.

The Officers confirmed that the results for the Senate and House of Representatives elections were transmitted without any issues.

However, problems arose solely with the transmission of the presidential poll results.

These officers, Janet Nuhu Turaki, Christopher Bulus Ardo, and Victoria Sani, who served in Yobe, Bauchi, and Katsina states, respectively, were providing testimonies as part of ongoing hearings into petitions challenging the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

Summoned by the court at the request of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Abubakar Atiku, the three officers were asked to recount their experiences relating to the transmission of results during the last presidential election.

Janet Turaki, the first to testify, reported that although voter accreditation was successful, the process became frustrating when the system failed to upload the election results.

She highlighted that while National Assembly election results were transmitted smoothly, the system failed to handle the presidential poll results throughout the day.

She did clarify, however, that the collated results in the forms EC8A were signed by the party agents and herself as an INEC Presiding Officer.

Christopher Bulus Ardo expressed his disappointment with his assignment for INEC during the election, explaining that he could not transmit the presidential election results as required by law.

Victoria Sani confessed that she couldn’t remember who won the presidential election in Katsina State but reiterated that the technical issues prevented the smooth transmission of the February 25 election’s presidential poll results.

Monday’s proceedings were managed by representatives of the various stakeholders involved. Presiding Justice Haruna Simon Tsammani has set June 20 for the next hearing.