Members of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room. Photo Credit: Julian Osamoto/Radio Nigeria
The Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide details of the process leading up to the results it collated in the just-concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
The Convener of the Situation Room, Ene Obi, made the call in Abuja during the presentation of the third interim report.
Ms Obi said the process was marred by various factors, as a result of which it “cannot be considered to have been credible”.
“The process cannot be considered to have been credible, given the lack of transparency, particularly in the result collation process,” she insisted.
“There can be no confidence in the results of these elections,” she said.
It was expected, she continued, that the “innovative reforms” introduced by INEC, in furtherance of the new Electoral Act, 2022, would lead to “efficient and accountable election management”.
“In addition, there was very poor communication from INEC on election day and on its challenges with its processes,” Ms Obi said.
“Its citizens contact numbers did not work, even when there were challenges with uploads to the INEC Results Viewing (iReV) Portal.”
The group, in view of the irregularities observed during the polls, urged INEC to conduct an audit of polling units where elections did not take place, in order to ascertain the reasons for the challenges.
The observations and analysis of the Situation Room concerning the Presidential and National Assembly Elections indicate that the process fell short of the “credibility threshold” set out by INEC as the basis for evaluating the elections, she added.
Reporting by Julian Osamoto; Editing by Tony Okerafor