The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) assurances that poll unit-level results will be sent and seen in real-time via the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal have drawn major criticism from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
When the Commonwealth Election Team, led by Ms. Abiola Sunmonu, Adviser & Head, African Section, Political Team, visited Nigeria to get an update on the country’s general election preparations, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, APC National Chairman, expressed his concern.
The APC national chairman stated to the Commonwealth Political Team that while he participated in the development of pertinent legislation regarding the use of technology to improve the electoral process while serving as a senator, he is still not convinced that INEC can transmit the results in real-time from polling places.
He claimed that the seeming unreliability of the country’s public electricity supply and the inadequate telephone network, which affect communities even in the federal capital city of Abuja, are reasons for his concerns.
He stated that the APC would not accept the circumstance that occurred during previous elections in which the commission pledged to obtain batteries for emergency recharges but never did so.
“INEC must assure us 100 percent that as at when due, in transmitting results they are ready because they spoke about recharging batteries but we heard in previous elections when it says it can’t recharge
