Edo poll: Our result sheets cannot be forged — INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared that the era of pre-recorded election results, as witnessed during the last off-cycle governorship election in Kogi State, is over.

The commission warned against attempts to forge election result sheets, noting that such attempts would be detected.

It also stated that the recent fuel price hike would not affect the conduct of the Edo State governorship election scheduled for September 21.

Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, made these statements at a press briefing on the upcoming Edo and Ondo states governorship elections on Friday in Abuja.

During the November 11 Kogi governorship election, some INEC officials were allegedly caught with pre-recorded result sheets, leading to the suspension of elections in nine wards.

Responding to a question from The Guardian about mechanisms to prevent such incidents in the Edo and Ondo governorship polls, Oyekanmi said what happened in Kogi was “completely new in recent times.”

He explained that the commission’s results management process has addressed such errant behaviour, adding that result sheets are embedded with security features that cannot be bypassed.

He said: “For a long time, we have not had the problem of pre-filled results sheets. In fact, the other Kogi elections we had, we had the issue of violence, not pre-filled. So this is a norm that is completely new in recent times, and I can assure you that the commission has taken active steps to prevent it from happening again.

“Our result sheets cannot be forged because they have security features, and nobody knows what those features are. INEC has perfected that aspect to ensure that if you print result sheets, you will not have access to what we have and won’t be able to use it.

“Again, our results management process addresses errant behaviour like that. If people take such actions, we have internal mechanisms, although we don’t always talk about them, but they are known to political parties. I don’t think we will have any issues of pre-filled results in the upcoming Edo election.”

Regarding whether the fuel price hike will impact logistics for the poll, Oyekanmi said the commission has met with the leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to ensure smooth operations.

“I am aware that the commission has recently met with officials of the NURTW to discuss this matter, and I am sure a resolution was reached. Of course, when planning an election, you have contingencies because you don’t know what will happen, so there could be changes.

“We don’t expect transporters to operate at a loss. If fuel has gone up and they want an increment, this could be discussed. I wasn’t part of the meeting, but I am sure some agreement was reached. We have to conduct the election, so I don’t think that will cause problems.”

Oyekanmi also expressed concern over increasing attacks on its officials on social media by individuals unhappy with recent election outcomes. He attributed the harassment to fake news circulating on social media.

Oyekanmi, while presenting a paper on the “Roles of the Media in Democratic Elections,” maintained that some dissatisfied individuals have taken to social media to harass and intimidate INEC officials.

He further clarified the situation surrounding the declaration of the 2023 presidential election result in the early hours of March 1, 2023. President Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of the presidential poll after he polled 8,794,726 votes.

INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, announced Tinubu as the winner at the International Collation Centre in Abuja around 2 AM on March 1, which fell on a Wednesday.

Some Nigerians questioned the timing of the announcement, suggesting it should have been made during the day.

Oyekanmi explained that the country is treated as a single constituency during presidential elections, requiring a meticulous process of collating results from polling units to wards, local governments, states, and the national level.

He said the INEC Chairman had to wait for 36 returning officers from across the country, including distant locations like Sokoto and Maiduguri, to physically present their results in Abuja as required by law.

According to him, the constitution or the Electoral Act does not specify a particular time during the day for declaring election results.

He added: “In a presidential election, the country is treated as one constituency. If you declare results at polling units, you go to the ward to collate, then move to the local government, then the state level, and then the returning officer goes to Abuja to present the results to the Chief Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. Some people didn’t understand this and said we declared results at 2 AM.

“The Chairman had to wait for 36 returning officers, including those coming from Sokoto and Maiduguri, to physically present the results. If you check the electoral act, it says they must bring the result and be interviewed. If you were at the collation centre, you would see that the Chairman was asking questions. If a returning officer cancelled results, the Chairman would ask for reasons, and if he wasn’t satisfied, the returning officer had to go back.

“It is only after the Chairman has accepted all figures presented by the 36 returning officers and the FCT that we can then collate according to what the constitution says and announce results.

“But because it takes time, some said we declared results in the middle of the night and that we are thieves. Meanwhile, Prof. Attahiru Jega declared the 2015 results around 4 AM. What is wrong with that? The constitution doesn’t specify a time of day for declaring elections.”