By Emmanuel Nduka
Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has refuted a recent report that it has jettisoned the electronic transmission of result and will resort to manual transmission for the 2023 polls.
The Commission’s reaction was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by Festus Okoye, its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, insisting that the procedure for result transmission remains the same as used in the recent Ekiti and Osun states elections.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) attention has been drawn to a misunderstanding arising from a recent short interview granted to a national newspaper on the procedure for result management during elections.
“Some have interpreted the explanation on result management procedure to mean that the Commission has jettisoned the electronic transmission of results and reverted to the manual process. This is not correct.
“We wish to reassure Nigerians that the electronic transmi6of results have come to stay. It adds to the credibility and transparency of the process when citizens follow polling unit level results on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal on real-time on Election Day. There will be no change or deviations in subsequent elections,” INEC stated.
As the 2023 polls draw nearer, Okoye urged Nigerians to “avail themselves of the provisions of the Electoral Act and the Commission’s detailed explanation of the procedure and not reach a conclusion on the basis of media headlines”.