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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, has said that the credibility of the elections it conducted in the recently proves that the commission is not an appendage of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He also assured that the commission has networked with telecommunications outfit to connect the few blind spots that might pose challenges to the Bimodal Verification Accreditation System (BVAS) transmitting election results electronically.
Yakubu who spoke on BBC, said that the commission’s allegiance is to the people of Nigeria not to any political party or political actor.
Asked about the closeness of the commission to the APC-led government, he said: “That is just an allegation. People always say so of all electoral commissions, including electoral commissions in Nigeria and other countries as well. It is always the usual accusations, but look at the kind of elections that we have been conducting of late.
“Different political parties have won different elections and citizens believe that the votes are counting and will continue to count and they are confident in the process. So, my assurance to the citizens is that we will continue to do what is necessary to ensure that we protect the integrity of the process. As I said, our allegiance is to the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not to any political party or any political actor.”
The Commission’s boss also reacted to the anxiety of some political party leaders over the capabilities of BVAS to deliver election results especially in the rural areas.
“I don’t know who said so, but look at what we have done. We did the pilot in August 2020 at Nasarawa state, when we conducted a bye-election in state constituency and since then, we have piloted the transmission of results in 105 constituencies nationwide, including major governorship elections.
“We did it in Anambra, we did it in Ekiti, and Osun. We also did it in the Federal Capital Territory.”
On the functionality in the rural areas, Yakubu explained: “On election day, the machine doesn’t rely on the internet to accredit voters, it works offline. Now, it is only when it comes to transmission of results that it needs network. But, if there is no network in the immediate vicinity, the scanned image of the polling unit level results taken using the BVAS will be transmitted as soon as the staff move from the polling unit to the collation centres.
“We have been working with the major telecom companies in Nigeria and we are satisfied that the number of blind spots can be addressed in the country. And the numbers of blind spots where you have no network is really small. We are good to go for these elections.Yes, there is insecurity, but insecurity is perennial. We are committed to conducting the elections as scheduled. So, to answer the question directly, the 2023 general election will not be postponed. The commission is not even contemplating adjustment to the timetable.”
