INEC defends election glitch
The statement by INEC National Commissioner Festus Okoye is a response to the European Union Election Observation Mission’s report on the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. The report highlighted operational failures and lack of transparency on the part of INEC, which resulted in a loss of public confidence in the commission. The EU observation team made several recommendations to address these issues.
In his reaction, Okoye defended INEC, stating that it is unfair to judge the commission solely based on the glitch experienced in the upload of the presidential election results. He pointed out that political parties have the right to deploy their agents to polling units to obtain primary evidence of the results. These results, along with the use of the Biometric Voter Authentication System (BVAS), are then taken to the collation center. Okoye emphasized that political parties should not rely solely on result uploads to build their case in court.
In essence, Okoye is suggesting that despite the glitch in result upload, political parties have access to other sources of evidence from the polling units, which should be utilized to support any legal action they may take. He is indicating that the glitch should not undermine the overall performance of INEC during the election process.
