Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Abdullahi Adamu,has said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must assure the country that it was 100 percent ready to transmit 2023 elections results electronically.
Adamu stated this yesterday, when he played host to the Commonwealth delegation at the party secretariat in Abuja, where he expressed worry over the use of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the 2023 elections.
He noted that the promise of transmission of election results in real time might not also be possible, especially, in remote villages, where there are no network.
According to him, “First, I was privileged to serve as a senator. Our concern is how ready are we to deploy some of these technologies as regards transmission, because we are taking a major step in transmitting election results in real time.
“To transmit results, every part of the nation Nigeria I’m not sure that the network covers it. I know that even in parts of Abuja, there is no network and we have from now till February,when in substantial parts of the country there is no electricity.
“INEC must assure us 100 percent that as and when due in transmitting results, they are ready, because they spoke about recharging batteries but we had in previous elections, when it says it can’t recharge.”
Earlier, leader of the delegation and Political Adviser, Commonwealth Secretariat, Lindiwe Maleleka, said they were on a pre-election assessment mission to meet with all major stakeholders involved in the election.
Maleleka said the delegation had interacted with civil society organisations, political parties, senior government officials and media representatives.
His words: “It is an opportunity to understand the preparation for the election irrespective of what status. Based on these perspectives, we will submit a report to the Commonwealth Secretary General, who will then decide to deploy observers for the election on behalf of the Commonwealth secretariat. This is why we are here to interact with you, tap your perspective and the preparation for the election.
“We note the reforms that have been introduced in the lead up to this election: the Electoral Act, 2022, the new technologies, which were introduced and I believe were tested in the Osun and Ekiti elections. We want to get your views about the new reforms in the build-up to the next general election, because we are aware it will be rolled out for the election in February.”
