INEC commits to uploading Nov 11th guber results for Kogi, Imo, Bayelsa on IREV Portal”

Ahead of the off-cycle governorship elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed its commitment to fulfilling the legal requirement of transmitting real-time election results for the November 11, 2023, elections in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states. These results will be made available on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV), as mandated by Nigeria’s electoral laws.

INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu made these remarks in an interview at the Ganaja Village Polling Unit in Ajaokuta, Kogi State on Saturday. This occurred while he conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the mock accreditation process, facilities, and the preparedness of the INEC office in the state for the upcoming election.

Recall the Resident Electoral Commissioner of Bayelsa State, Ofiong Efanga, in which he purportedly said the results of the election will be manually collated.

The exercise highlighted INEC’s unwavering commitment to ensuring both security and the provision of essential amenities as top priorities.

He emphasized the importance of addressing the unique challenges faced at this location. Ganaja Village Polling Unit stands out as the largest and most densely populated in Nigeria, with a staggering 13,000 registered voters.

While the Commission plans to redistribute voters to other locations after the election, they will carry out the elections with the existing number of registered voters for now.

One of the significant challenges faced at this polling unit is the threat of flooding, given its proximity to the confluence of the River Niger and Benue. To mitigate this risk, INEC has identified Gadumu as a potential relocation site for ad hoc staff in case of flooding.

The preferable solution, however, is to use Ganaja as a “super-rack,” where staff can be camped overnight for a smooth setup on Friday, ensuring that everything is in place for voters on Election Day.

INEC says it is ensuring that voters have a pleasant voting experience on Election Day. The Chairman also clarified that the general elections in Nigeria occur in three phases: the main election conducted in February and March, supplementary elections in April, and court-ordered run elections.

While the focus was on these phases, INEC is fully committed to the success of off-cycle elections, like the one scheduled for November 11, 2023.

To manage the expected crowd on Election Day, the Chairman revealed a plan involving multiple desks for mock accreditation exercises. The voter register will be alphabetized by surnames, and registers will be posted on Election Day to guide voters to their respective locations.

INEC will deploy a minimum of eight Biometric Verification and Authentication System (BVAS) machines to ensure smooth voter accreditation.

Concerning the method of accreditation and transmission of election results, the Chairman stressed that it would be carried out electronically, with results uploaded on the IREV portal. A mock exercise was conducted to demonstrate this process, and voters registered on the portal could access the results.

Regarding security, INEC has received assurances from security agencies, and a high-level meeting chaired by the Chairman and the National Security Adviser is scheduled to discuss security arrangements for the upcoming elections in the three states.

In addressing the threat of flooding in Kogi, INEC has a history of providing essential amenities, such as electricity, water, toiletries, and sleeping materials, at the “super-racks” where ad hoc staff stay overnight. The Chairman emphasized INEC’s commitment to ensuring the comfort and security of those involved in the elections.

In his words “We chose this polling unit because it is the largest polling unit and most densely populated in Nigeria. It has 13,000 registered voters. After the election, the Commission will redistribute the voters to other approximate locations. But for now, we’ll have to conduct the elections with the number of registered voters in this polling unit.

“And for that reason, we are deploying a minimum of eight BVAS machines on election day, Saturday 11, November 2023 for easy accreditation of voters.

“One of the challenges of this location is flooding. It is not only by the river Niger, it is actually by confluence, where River Niger and Benue meet and on our way you saw evidence of flooding. And that’s why we took you to Gadumu where if there is flooding before the election, we’ll pull the adhoc staff our of there and move them at first light on Saturday to this polling unit.

“But our preference will be to use this place as a super-rack where we will camp the ad hoc stuff overnight, so that they will do the setting up on Friday and at first light on Saturday, INEC officials and materials will be waiting for voters rather than the other way around. So this is one of the largest polling units in the country and that’s where we are here.

“We are taking proactive measures to ensure that we give voters a pleasant voting experience on Election Day.

“Remember we have not concluded the general election yet. The general election are three phases. The main election conducted in February and March. Supplementary elections conducted in April and court ordered run elections. So the attention of the commission was focused on that. But immediately after, then we’ll come back to this but for now, for the purpose of the off-cycle elections. This is the arrangement.

“As you have seen the desks for the mock accreditation exercise, that’s how we have several desks here because there will be several voting locations on election day. So what will happen on Election Day is that we have broken the register alphabetized by the voter surnames.

“So if your name begins with an A, there is a particular location where you are going to vote but registers will be posted here on election day so voters will know exactly where they are going to register and there will be officials of the commission that will guide them as to the locations where they are going to vote and as I said, we’ll deploy a minimum of eight BVAS machines to ensure a smooth accreditation of voters here.

“I’ve received as we are coming pictures from Bayelsa, and the turnout for the mock accreditation in Bayelsa is impressive. In fact, in Artisa in yenagoa, there is even a queue of voters waiting to be accredited. And we believe it is the same story that we’ll be hearing very soon from Imo.

“The method is as provided by law, electronic accreditation, electronic upload of results on the IREV portal and that is why we are doing this mock. So please disregard whatever was reported about what the REC was said to have said in Bayelsa. That’s going to be the procedure and it’s for that reason that I will advise you also for those who are registered on the IREV portal, that in the next two hours or so, they should go to the IREV portal you will see the result of the mock from all the three states, we are uploading, as we have done in previous elections.

“Well, so far so good in terms of assurance from the security agencies as we can see, they’re even here for the MOCK and next week, Friday. There is going to be a high level meeting in Abuja, chaired by myself and the national security adviser in which all the security chiefs will be present, no representation to discuss the issue of security for the three states so we are on top of the situation in terms of security arrangement and security deployment.

“The commission always provides electricity, we provide water, we also provide some toiletries and sleeping materials like mats at the super racks where the adhoc staff stay overnight. So as I keep saying that INEC is the only electoral commission I know which generates before election. It is also the only electoral commission that generates its own water, so close to the election, INEC becomes a mini power holding company and we also become a mini water board. So we’ll make sure that the ad-hoc staff are comfortable. Election is supposed to ride on the back of the national infrastructure.

“So in the absence of that in many locations, we provide, we try and improvise to make ad-hoc more comfortable. So we’ll continue to do what we have always done consistently to provide security and to provide comfort, minimum comfort, for those involved in the elections,”he said.