Dele Farotimi
Popular Nigerian author, Dele Farotimi has questioned the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over their conduct during the 2023 polls.
The political activist opined that everything worked during the February 25 presidential elections except the electoral body.
INEC’s spokesman, Festus Okoye attributed the failure of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) to transmit results of the presidential election in real-time to the commission’s Result Viewing Portal (IReV) to a “technical glitch”.
Okoye, in his defence in the presidential election Tribunal, had said the IReV portal worked for the National Assembly, Governorship and State Assembly polls.
The IReV and the BVAS are new technologies introduced by the electoral body for the accreditation and electronic transmission of votes for this year’s polls but Nigerians couldn’t view the results of the presidential poll in real-time .
Speaking about the 2023 elections during an interview with Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Wednesday July 5, Farotimi said;
“All the evidences are very clear and it showed very clearly that everything that should work on that day worked except INEC.”
“The integrity of INEC as an institution went on exile.”
Farotimi further stated that INEC should have offered an apology to Nigerians for the failure of the electoral umpire to fulfil its promise to transmit election results electronically to all through the polls.
“INEC is a public body established by law and bound to work according to the law. It advertised its guidelines…the advertisement of BVAS and IReV and everything. INEC was quite vociferous in explaining to Nigerians and assuring us of what would happen with the system.”
“In a sane environment where people are still governed by reason, the likes of Mr Festus Okoye should either have resigned or be somewhere writing a statement explaining to Nigerians what happened. Glitch? Is it a glitch in the human brain? A glitch in the technical system or a glitch occasioned by the complete shutdown of human conscience?” Farotimi added.
Farotimi said Okoye’s explanation of the technical glitch that characterised the February 25 presidential poll was at variance with common sense.
He said INEC “deliberately sabotaged” the process.