The Resident Electoral Officer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Edo State, Obo Effanga, has explained how political parties can lawfully question a mutilated result uploaded on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV).
He said political parties have the right to raise a legitimate issue if the result they have is different from the result uploaded on the IREV.
“Let me stress again that political parties are given copies of the results. So, if what you see on the IREV is the one that has a lot of mutilations and cancellations, then if what the political parties have is different from that then you can raise a legitimate issue about that,” Effanga said on Sunrise Daily on Monday.
He added, “So you see something online that goes to the IREV that has a lot of mutilation then you can question that, but you can only question that if you bring another copy that you claim is the authentic result and then a decision can now be made as to which one is actually the result.”
According to the INEC REC, not all mutilations and cancellations are made with the intention of changing the authentic result as some are honest errors by presiding officers who recorded the results.
“It is also possible that the cancellations and mutilations happened even at the polling unit. It would have been an honest error by the presiding officer who recorded it, who made a mistake and finding out he made a mistake corrected it, that could happen.
“So it also depends on how many errors you see there, but like I said election results that are electronically collated can also be matched with what agents of political parties also had and what appeared on the IREV and captured by the BVAS,” Effanga said.
Controversies have trailed the inability of INEC to transmit results electronically to the IREV in real-time during the February 25 presidential election, with the electoral body receiving knocks from some Nigerians for failing to deliver on their promise.
During a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners on Saturday, the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, decried the issues raised over alleged irregularities of the presidential and national assembly elections.
He directed that ad hoc staff be made to undergo a refresher training ahead of the governorship and state assembly elections.
The INEC Chair also ordered that staff found to be negligent in the conduct of the presidential and national assembly elections be dismissed.