Yakubu Mahmood’s INEC Fooled Nigerians

 By Charles Okoh

For a lot of Nigerians who had looked forward to using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) technology in the presidential and National Assembly elections of Saturday, February 25, it was a huge disappointment to see that that was not to be. Well, maybe, except for those who conspired to see that the device, which the INEC chairman Yakubu Mahmood and his team had touted as the game changer, did not work.

*Yakubu

The BVAS, it was expected, will help deepen our democracy by removing as much as possible human intervention in the process. Opportunities were provided by INEC for manipulation, thereby exposing to the world their insincerity. In the end it was a total waste of the time of the voter and the resources of a nation whose revenues have continued to dwindle.

If the INEC chairman had left the excuse for their inability to transmit the elections results electronically at the polling unit to technical glitches as they claimed, much as it would have sounded silly it would have made a little sense, but it is silly of them to try to hide behind the Electoral Act by claiming that the laws never stated that the results must be transmitted from the Polling Unit but also from the collation centres provided it was done electronically.

My question for INEC is, why were they citing the governorship elections of Osun, Ekiti and Edo and others while trying to sell the benefits of BVAS to the nation? Are they saying in those elections, the results were not uploaded at the polling units? Did they tell Nigerians that the results can be uploaded from anywhere outside the polling units yet Nigerians became excited and enthusiastic about the elections?

Perhaps, what the INEC chairman needs to know, even though he is only deceiving himself, is that the reason there was so much expectations around these elections was simply because of the promise by INEC that there will not be much need of a collation centre and that the results would have been known by all and sent to its IReV in Abuja at the polling units thereby making the activities at the rigging centres, sorry collation centres a mere confirmation of what had already been completed at the polling units.

As part of the shameless act to justify what is a clear case of breach of its own laws, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, had claimed that the Electoral Act has no provision for electronic transmission of results. Of course, his remark generated heated arguments among the lawmakers. After his tactless remark he turned again on Thursday, to say “I think INEC should consider looking into issues raised by the public. INEC should be strictly guided by the Constitution and the Electoral Act and their guidelines and regulations.”

As recently as November 16, 2022, INEC said it will not reverse its decision to use BVAS and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) for the 2023 general elections.

The INEC chairman, Mahmud Yakubu, said the introduction of BVAS and IReV, a technology to upload election results in real time, was to ensure a free, fair and credible election. 

What does real time mean in this context and does posting the results several hours after the winner has been announced qualify for real time? Yakubu had also assured that the BVAS machines had never failed and will not fail Nigerians at the 2023 general election.

Again, as recent as February 22, three days before the election Prof. Yakubu speaking at a meeting with leaders of foreign election observers said raw election figures will not be transmitted electronically, adding that the presiding officers would be required to use the BVAS to snap the election results on the results sheet from each polling unit, and upload them on INEC Result Viewing Portal for Nigerians to see.

The INEC chairman said the decision not to transmit raw figures electronically was taken to avoid hacking as raw figures were more susceptible to hacking.

He said, “The BVAS confirms that the cards issued by the commission and presented by the voter are genuine and the voter is authenticated using the fingerprint and where it failed, the facial. Where both fail, the voter can’t vote. That is a matter of law.

“After the process is completed at the polling unit, the image of the polling unit result will be taken by the BVAS and uploaded into what we call the INEC Result Viewing Portal where citizens can see polling unit level results as the processes are completed at polling unit level.”

The election has been won and lost. My only regret was to have believed INEC that the results would not only be known by all parties at the polling units but that the results when certified by the party agents would be transmitted immediately before everybody. Not only did I believe them I also became a quasi-INEC PRO as I was busy preaching to everybody who cared to listen that this time our votes would count and that this election would be like none before it. 

How wrong and foolish I was. Indeed, this would go down in history as the worst election ever. The previous elections never had the goodwill, resources and legal backing enjoyed by this INEC.

On the day of the election, I not only went to vote, I also visited some other polling units as part of my assignment for the day. However, on returning to my polling unit to find out how the election went, I met some innocent INEC staff practically being held hostage by a group of enthusiastic youths who had vowed never to allow them leave until the results were uploaded to the server in Abuja.

Seeing that the poor ladies and gentlemen were becoming apprehensive and afraid of their safety, I pleaded that they be allowed to go since the problem was obviously not theirs and that if the voters were not convinced they should at least follow them to their RAC where they were promised they would get assistance.

This was after I had called on my daughter who was working as NYSC adhoc staff and was told her own polling unit and about three others near her were experiencing similar difficulties. In her own case, while the results of the Senate and House of Representatives had been uploaded, the presidential elections results were not going through. She told me that they had all been told to return to their RAC.

If this is not a clear case of a plot to frustrate the process, then what was it? Yakubu and his team, including the loquacious Mike Igini, not only deceived us but also confirmed the saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same. The billions of Naira wasted on the procurement of those devices, only goes to prove how unserious we are as a nation. What I know for sure is that many of those who voted on February 25 may never again return to participate in any sham of a process called election again.

How will INEC convince many of those youths who were voting for the first time, not because they just reached the age of voting, but because they had never believed in the transparency of our elections.

This election is not about who won or who lost, it’s simply about the dashed hopes of a lot of Nigerians who had expected that for once the process would be transparent and fair so that whoever wins and loses would be convinced about the outcome. The reaction of those who felt disappointed with INEC would only be reflected by the turn out on March 11 governorship and state assemblies elections and the subsequent ones thereafter. Shame!

*Okoh is a commentator on public issues