2023: Forget rigging, ex-INEC REC tells politicians

By Tunde Opalana

A former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Akwa Ibom State, Barrister Mike Igini who gave this admonition said elections will be won or lost in the polling units.

Candidates and political parties have been admonished to perfect their campaign strategies and improve on their selling points as there will be no room for them to rig votes in the 2023 election.

The Ex- REC said this on Monday while featuring on Channels Television breakfast programme Sunrise Daily.

Igini hinged his warning on his conviction that the 2022 Electoral Act will make election infractions including rigging difficult.

According to him, provisions in the amended piece of electoral legislation has made Polling Units the “Center of the Universe”.

He said the Electoral Act 2022 empowers INEC to deploy technology in the conduct of the elections and the introduction of the Bimodal Voting Accreditation System (BVAS) and (iREV) will make it highly impossible to rig the elections at the Polling Units level anymore.

He said: “The 2022 Electoral Act has made Polling Units the Center of the Universe. This means that elections will now be determined in the Polling Units.

“The era of fraudulent Electoral Officers changing election results may have gone because the results harvested in the Polling Units must be declared right there and results transmitted to the INEC elections viewing portal”.

He further clarified that the use of Form EC8A where the Presiding Officer will fill in the results into the form and transfer or transmit same to INEC iREV has become a game changer as the results can no longer be manipulated at Collation Centers.

“In line with Section 60 of the 2022 Electoral Act, the POs must transmit and also physically take Form EC8A where the results harvested in the Polling Units have been entered to the Collation Centers. Woe betide anyone who will alter the results already transmitted to the INEC election results viewing portal”, Igini stated.