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Ebenezer Adurokiya- Warri
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been described as a fraudulent umpire following its alleged compromise of the February 25 presidential election.
Fiery lawyer and coordinator of the Centre for the Vulnerable and the Underprivileged (CENTREP), Mr Oghenejabor Ikimi, in a statement on Tuesday, 28th February 2023, chided the commission for heating the polity with its refusal to follow the Electoral Act into the declaration of the presidential election results.
The statement read in part:
“It is the statutory duty of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload the elections of Polling Units at the INEC Portal as prescribed by Section 60 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Election, 2022.
“The above INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Election, 2022 is part and parcel of the Electoral Act, 2022 under Section 60 (5).
“For the avoidance of doubt, Section 60 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 reads thus:
“The presiding officer shall transfer the results, including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot, in a manner as prescribed by the Commission”
“The manner prescribed by the Commission in transferring results and the total number of accredited voters is provided for in Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 stipulates thus:
“Upon completion of all the Polling Unit voting and results, procedures, the Presiding Officer shall:-
i) Electronically transmit or transfer the result of the Polling Unit, direct to the collation system as prescribed by the Commission.
ii) Use BVAS to upload a scan of ES8A to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), as prescribed by the Commission.
iii) Take the BVAS and the original copy of each form in the tamper-evident envelope to the Registration Area/Ward Collation Officer in the company of Security Agents. The Polling Agents may accompany the Presiding Officer to the RA/Ward Collation Centre.”
“However, despite the clear provisions of Section 60 (5) of the Electoral Act, 2022 and Clause 38 of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections, 2022 the Commission has resorted to doing otherwise by engaging the use of manual collation which in law goes to no issue.
“It is a trite fundamental principle of law that where the law, as in the instant case, has set out the procedure to be followed, that procedure or procedures must be followed as to do otherwise goes to no issue.
“In the light of the above, I call for calm nationwide amongst party supporters and I call on aggrieved Political Parties to approach the Presidential Election Tribunal to set aside the above monumental fraud by INEC as the body, no doubt, is a fraudulent Commission and ought to be told so.”
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