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Old INEC leaders disagree with Amupitan, say mandatory result transmission feasible
For the umpteenth time, Nigerians were almost unanimous on Sunday, in their continued quest for mandatory electronic transmission of results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Portal (IReV) in subsequent elections in the country, particularly that of the forthcoming general polls in 2027.
This formed the fulcrum of engagements at the national debate over the Electoral Act 2026, recently signed into law, where but for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nigeria’s ruling party and opposition groups and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), were unanimous in demanding for the process.
At the Citizens’ Townhall parley on Sunday, broadcast live on Channels Television, where stakeholders interrogated the new 2026 Electoral Act, passed by the National Assembly and assented to by President Bola Tinubu, various speakers believed that without the provision made total without any proviso, was akin to returning Nigeria to the dark ages of huge electoral malfeasance.
Themed: Electoral Act 2026: What It Means for Your Vote and The 2027 Elections, Joash Amupitan, Chairman of INEC, who identifying network inadequacy as a primary challenge, emphasised that the quality of an election is inherently linked to logistical capacity.
Dwelling on the hiccups of elections in Nigeria, the INEC boss who assured that the technical glitches that marred the 2023 presidential polls had been eliminated, told his audience: “I don’t see the issue of transmission as a problem; the problem is not the network but the adequacy of the networks we have. Nigeria might not achieve “100 per cent perfect elections for now. But the Commission is striving to deliver the best possible outcome.
“The glitch is eliminated; by God’s grace, it will not surface in Nigeria. INEC will conduct a mock presidential election to stress-test the transmission architecture. One of the things we are trying to do before the election is to have a mock presidential election so that we are sure that this transmission across the states must not fail.”
But Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, leading the CSOs, who joined issues with the INEC, assailed NASS for option to include a proviso to in the process that tended towards manual transmission as an option, arguing that electronic transmission must be the sole, real-time method for results to ensure credibility.
His words: “And as we approach 2027, the credibility of that election will not just be determined on election day. It will be determined by a few things: the quality of preparations, the transparency of resource management, the professionalism of election officials, how political actors restrain themselves, but more importantly, the independence and the integrity of our security agencies and the judiciary.
“And lastly, the vigilance of citizens is what will determine the credibility of the next elections, because democracy is not self-executing. It requires guardians, and the citizens of this great country are the guardians that we need.”
For Okechukwu Ibeanu and Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, former Commissioners at INEC, who agreed with Itodo, there was no basis for resort to manual system, which was akin to the Incidence Form, INEC had adopted in the past as a fallback option, which eventually dominated the process, warning that the issue of no network would similarly would become a major feature in future elections.
Ibeanu said: “I think there are still gaps and loopholes in the law, and it’s unfortunate that it took us debating about a proviso for the country to come to a consensus that electronic transmission was actually in the 2022 act.
“But what we have done is actually to take us far back to 2018… We consistently tinker with the electoral legal framework as if that holds all the answers to our electoral problems. Citizens, this is about you. It is not about politicians; it is not about INEC. Except citizens are in a position to protect their votes and control those who ostensibly represent them, our dream of a truly democratic country will remain an illusion.”
Osaze-Uzi, former Director of Voter Education at INEC, who was more emphatic that the new Electoral Act had returned Nigeria back with the proviso on manual collation, asked his audience: “Who is the judge when there is a network failure? Is it the electoral officer?”
Oluwadara Oluwalana, Head of Information Communication Technology (ICT) at the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), maintained the position of the body that Nigeria had the capacity to try out technology in the 2027 polls, with the collaboration of operators, saying: “Yes, I believe telecom operators can come together and make it work. I think we have the capacity now.”
Chidi Nwafor, until 2023, Director ICT at INEC, who confirmed being instrumental to the creation of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV, blamed the judiciary for ignoring the intent of INEC in coming up with the two devices as a foolproof mechanism for electoral process in the country, warning that what happened in the 2023 election, must not be repeated in 2027.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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