Yiaga Africa urges INEC to clarify results transmission ahead of Osun, 2027 polls

A non governmental organisation, Yiaga Africa, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately publish a clear protocol on the electronic transmission of election results ahead of the August 15 Osun state governorship election and the 2027 general election.

The group said the protocol should explain the complete journey of election results from the polling unit to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal, detailing the roles of election officials, the purpose of each stage, and the expected duration of the backend validation process.

It also called for an independent assessment of the upgraded Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and IReV platforms.

The recommendations were contained in Yiaga Africa’s policy brief titled, “Securing the Votes: Electronic Transmission and Collation of Election Results under Nigeria’s New Legal Framework,” presented in Abuja on Thursday.

Presenting the document, Yiaga Africa Executive Director, Samson Itodo, said the Electoral Act 2026 had made the electronic transmission of polling unit results to the IReV portal mandatory, transforming the platform from a public viewing portal into an official legal record.

Itodo urged INEC to publish ward and local government collation results on the IReV portal and fulfil its promise to upload polling unit accreditation figures alongside Form EC8A.

He also called on the commission to clearly state which result should prevail where discrepancies arise between the physical result sheet, the scanned copy on IReV, and the electronically transmitted result.

He further urged INEC to establish a transparent procedure for resolving such conflicts before collation continues.

Itodo recommended that INEC should redraft relevant sections of its election guidelines, develop a dedicated manual on results management, conduct publicly observable mock exercises, disclose the technical specifications of its technology, and formally gazette its regulations in line with the Electoral Act.

According to him, the proposed reforms require no amendment to the law and can be implemented before the Osun governorship election and the 2027 general election.

Yiaga Africa also urged political parties, candidates, election observers, the media, and citizens to remain vigilant and demand a transparent, accountable, and verifiable results management process.

Also, the European Union Programme Manager for Democracy and Governance, Laolu Olawunmi, said public confidence in elections depended largely on how results were managed.

“Election results management is the stage where public trust is either built or broken,” she said.

Olawunmi stressed that technology should strengthen transparency rather than replace accountability.

She urged INEC to improve stress testing, upload capacity, practical simulations, and the training of election officials ahead of future elections.

She also called for party agents and election observers to be granted meaningful access to collation centres to enhance public confidence in the electoral process.

Earlier, in his welcome address, INEC National Commissioner, Abdullahi Zuru expressed confidence in the commission’s preparations, saying elections conducted since the 2023 general election had shown significant improvements.

He said the recent governorship elections and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council polls demonstrated that the commission had overcome many of the challenges experienced during previous elections.

Responding to Yiaga Africa’s proposal for a mock exercise, Zuru disclosed that INEC was already considering conducting a mock presidential election well ahead of the 2027 general election.

Also speaking, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, said the current Electoral Act still requires reforms to guarantee credible elections.

He noted that many political parties were forced to adopt consensus candidates during recent primaries because of the high cost of conducting elections.

Dantalle said that IPAC would continue engaging stakeholders to advance democratic reforms after reviewing the electoral process.