Is INEC Really Planning To Rig The 2023 Election? Check Out What The Commission Has To Say

The Independent National Electoral Commission has reacted to claims that it is planning to rig the upcoming elections.

INEC distanced itself from reports making the rounds that the Commission was planning to rig the 2023 general election by abandoning the direct and real-time electronic upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing portal by the Registration Area Technical Support Staff.

This clarification was made known in a statement signed by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye on Friday.

According to the statement, the IReV is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to ensure the integrity and credibility of election results in Nigeria which cannot be undermined.

The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to reports in a section of the media of alleged plans by the Commission to rig the 2023 General Election by abandoning the direct and real-time electronic upload of polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing portal by the Registration Area Technical Support Staff.

“The claim is patently false. The Commission has repeatedly reassured Nigerians that it will transmit results directly from the polling units as we witnessed in Ekiti and Osun State Governorship elections and 103 more constituencies where off-cycle Governorship/FCT Area Council elections and bye-elections were held since August 2020. The results can still be viewed on the portal.

“The IReV is one of the innovations introduced by the Commission to ensure the integrity and credibility of election results in Nigeria. It is therefore inconceivable that the Commission will turn around and undermine its own innovations.

“The public is advised to ignore the reports. The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System and IReV have come to stay for voter accreditation and uploading of polling unit results in real-time in Nigeria.”