The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has insisted that the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in Imo State, Prof Sylvia Agu will not be removed despite growing controversies and protests.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Rotimi Oyekanmi, made this known on a television programme on Wednesday night.
He said “The REC will conduct the election.”
Oyekanmi noted that there was no reason to remove the REC, adding that complaints against Agu were based on suspicion.
In his words, “We don’t have any reason to remove her from there and we don’t have any evidence that implicate her or prove any allegation that is being alleged at this time.”
“The Commission takes its responsibility seriously and we don’t joke with the conduct of elections, and when there are complaints against our officers, we also don’t joke with complaints but you must provide evidence that our officers are culpable.”
The spokesperson for the INEC chair said took disciplinary actions against its RECs in Abia, Sokoto and Adamawa states during the general elections earlier in the year when they acted outside the provisions of the commission.
Meanwhile, the electoral commission clarified that its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) is not meant for collating results.
Oyekanmi, made the clarification during a press briefing in Imo State against the backdrop of widespread agitation for electronic transmission of election results in the country.
He said the result viewing portal was not for collating election results or determining the winner; neither was the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System an electronic voting machine.
When asked how results from the polling units would be transmitted after voting had been concluded in the governorship polls in the three states, Oyekanmi explained, “Polling unit election results, also known as Form EC8As, will be uploaded directly to the INEC Result Viewing Portal from the individual PUs by the presiding officers after the close of poll and declaration of results at that level.
“Presiding Officers are expected to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to snap the Form EC8A and upload the same to the IReV after the conclusion of all processes at the various polling units.
“However, people need to understand that the IReV is not for collating election results or determining the winner, while the BVAS is also not an electronic voting machine.
“To be sure, electronic voting or collation of results is illegal in Nigeria at the moment. All that the IReV portal does is just to display the Form EC8A uploaded from the polling units for the public to see.
“The process for determining and declaring the winner of a governorship election is well encapsulated in section 179 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
