Flawed election and the future of Nigeria

SIR: The Electoral Act, 2022, was designed to protect the voting process from predatory politicians (who had hijacked our elections and have taken political office as birthright, regardless of performance and have run the country to the edge of the precipice) so that the people could freely choose leaders they can entrust with the social contract.

The game changer and soul of the Act is the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology and protocol, for accrediting voters and uploading polling data to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) directly from the polling unit – as enshrined in Section 60 Subsection 5 of the Act – once every biometrically-accredited voter has cast his vote and the ballots tallied, approved and signed by all parties, in the glare of voters, leaving no room for external influence, infiltration or other forms of manipulation.

The data so uploaded is the final arbiter in the event of dispute, as in Section 64 Subsections 5 and 6 of the Act, part of which reads: “Subject to Subsection (1) a collation officer or returning officer shall use the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under Section 47 (2) of this Act and the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units under Section 60 (4) of this Act to collate and announce the result of an election…”

Thus, the integrity of any result declared by the INEC is in its agreement with the polling data transferred directly from the polling unit to the IReV, which enjoyed the collective witness of INEC officials, party agents and voters, with each agent retaining a copy of the returns for the records of his party.

It would mean that an election is incomplete when results were not so transmitted, leaving room for external influence and manipulation, apparently, in favour of a predetermined winner, as would seem to be the case in the February 25, 2023 presidential election.

It happened that the INEC uploaded National Assembly polling data directly from the polling unit but failed to upload that of the presidency, under the pretext of technical hitches.

The foundation of democracy is the power in the freedom of the people to choose their leaders and to change the government, in the quest for prosperity and better life. Once that freedom is hijacked, rendering them helpless, you cannot talk of democracy or corporate prosperity anymore.

This aftermath could have been arrested by allowing the Electoral Act and technology to operate freely to the satisfaction of the apprehensive youths whose future is most at stake.

Aggrieved parties should not be deterred from going to court to determine it.
• Emma Nwosu