Obo Effanga, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Resident Electoral Officer in Edo State, has explained how political parties can legally question a mangled result uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) Portal.
He stated that political parties have the right to file a legitimate complaint if their results differ from those posted on the IReV.
Effanga said that “let me stress again that political parties are given copies of the results.
“So, if what you see on the IReV is the one that has a lot of mutilations and cancellations, then if what the political parties have is different from that then you can raise a legitimate issue about that.
“So you see something online that goes to the IReV that has a lot of mutilation then you can question that, but you can only question that if you bring another copy that you claim is the authentic result and then a decision can now be made as to which one is actually the result.”
According to Effanga, not all mutilations and cancellations are done with the intent of altering the true outcome, as some are honest mistakes made by presiding officers who recorded the results.
“It is also possible that the cancellations and mutilations happened even at the polling unit.
“It would have been an honest error by the presiding officer who recorded it, who made a mistake and finding out he made a mistake corrected it, that could happen.
“So it also depends on how many errors you see there, but like I said election results that are electronically collated can also be matched with what agents of political parties also had and what appeared on the IReV and captured by the BVAS,” Effanga said.
Controversy has surrounded INEC’s inability to transmit results electronically to the IReV in real time during the February 25, 2023 presidential election, with some Nigerians criticizing the electoral body for failing to deliver on their promise.
BizWatch Nigeria recalls that on Saturday, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu condemned the allegations of irregularities in the presidential and national assembly elections.
He ordered that ad hoc staff be given refresher training in advance of the governorship and state assembly elections.
The INEC Chair also ordered the dismissal of any staff found to be negligent in the conduct of the presidential and national assembly elections.
