By Deji Adeyanju , For Concerned Nigerians
Concerned Nigerians want to use this medium to call the attention of Nigerians and the International Community to fresh attempts by some individuals at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically rig the 2019 General Elections.
You will agree with me that all Nigerians want a free, fair, and violent free 2019 election, devoid of manipulation, vote buying and rigging. However, we wish to bring to the notice of Nigerians and the international community of a deliberate plot to electronically manipulate the outcome of the 2019 elections by some agents of the APC-led Government as exemplified in the recently concluded Osun elections. We are worried that the INEC Chairman will agree to meet with the Chief of Staff to the president, one of those working tirelessly to rig the 2019 elections.
We have been reliable informed by our sources within INEC that the E-Collation portal of the Commission has been tampered with as it no longer shows location, time and date of collation of results.
The E-Collation process remains the most potent way to end rigging of election results in the country. The validity of results of the 2019 elections will be tied to the credibility of the E-Collation portal especially the imputing of results real-time from polling Units across the country.
Therefore, if the E-Collation will not reflect time, date and location where results are entered from; it means the outcome of the elections will not be credible. The implication of this is that, anyone can enter results from any location, at anytime and on any date.
Another issue of concern is the unrestricted access to the E-Collation portal given to the 12 National Commissioners. We know for a fact that the correct system at INEC is that the commission shared the E-Collation portal 3 states per commissioner. This was how (an INEC National Commissioner) was able to view election result collation in real-time and divulge same to … accomplices in APC to help ensure that the Osun State Guber election was inconclusive.
We are worried that if unlimited access is given to the 12 National Commissioners at to view E-Collation of results as currently obtained, they will compromise the 2019 elections since many of them are APC sympathizers. We want a process where only the National Chairman will be able to view the E-Collation of results on the INEC portal on Election Day to prevent manipulation of the 2019 elections.
It is noteworthy that INEC has indirectly acknowledged that … has been one of the stumbling blocks of the wheels of progress of the commission as evident in … redeployment to (another) department but still has unlimited access to E-Collation portal of 3 states in the country and can cause maximum damage to our electoral system in the country. We call on INEC to review the existing structure of its election management team by redeploying Mr A.T Yusuf, the current Director of Operation who continues to work with … on strategies to manipulate the election outcome in 2019. Both individuals are working closely with a (presidency official and cabinet members.
Based on the foregoing, we call on INEC to restore the former E-Collation system and ensure all electronically collated results on their portal reflect time of input of result, location and date.
Finally, Nigerians are in dire need of qualitative leadership at all levels, hence, INEC must ensure that the process is credible, free and fair. We equally call on the Nigerian people to be vigilant in the days, weeks and months ahead.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Editor’s Note: Parts of the above piece have been redacted to protect persons for whom no proof of culpability have been provided
●The opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position or stance of Nigeria Everyday or Everyday.ng.