According to the report, the plan was that Nigerians would not be allowed to see the results uploaded on the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) until after the ward collation officers have collated and validated all the clusters of polling units that constitute a ward.
In November 2022, SaharaReporters exclusively reported about plot by the Independent National Electoral Commission to rig the results of the 2023 elections which were largely on the credibility and fidelity of polling unit results.
According to the report, the plan was that Nigerians would not be allowed to see the results uploaded on the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) until after the ward collation officers have collated and validated all the clusters of polling units that constitute a ward.
Multiple and reliable sources in the ICT department of INEC had revealed that a powerful politician had successfully compromised key staff members of the commission not to allow polling units results to be viewed by the public on the INEC result view portal.
“SaharaReporters has detailed revelation and explanations from insiders who are concerned that the dream of a new Nigeria will be aborted by 2023 if their own commission refuses to allow Nigerians to view simultaneously and in real-time polling units’ results instead of waiting for RATECH’s (Registration Area Technical Support) validation which is the stage at which political actors with leverage inside INEC are planning to rig the 2023 elections,” the report had read.
“Compromised RATECHs at the ward level will upload pre-written EC8A cooked-up additional votes different from the results from the polling units. Some INEC insiders confirmed as SaharaReporters had previously and several times revealed to Nigerians that Prof (Mahmood) Yakubu has been fully blackmailed with the ongoing threat of a CCTB to retain a procedure that was used during the pilot stage of polling units’ results transmission.
“This is what is planned for the 2023 elections that will definitely spell doom for Nigeria if this technical caveat that INEC is trying to introduce is allowed to stand. President Buhari will be recorded as having presided over Nigeria when the elections that brought doom for Nigeria were conducted and if those forces controlling Prof Yakubu, who is struggling for his safety are not tamed.
“That is why INEC has refused to commit publicly to Nigerians that it will grant access to real-time viewing of polling units results as uploaded without having to wait for validation by RATECHs before the voting public can view the results.
“SaharaReporters can authoritatively reveal to Nigerians that contrary to what they have been made to believe about the upload of results from the polling units, investigation reveals that the result viewed by Nigerians in the recent isolated elections are results that were first sent to the Central Server of INEC (recall that Server existence was denied in 2019) then RATECHs who have been given access codes will validate the polling units’ results before they are sent to the public results view portal viewed by Nigerians as if it’s real-time.
“The present practice does not allow the public to see the uploaded results at the polling units until they are validated by the Collation Officer/RATECH. This is the current practice and it is a real danger that INEC never disclosed to Nigerians.
“This is a potential window for manipulation that was used during the Anambra Governorship election last year at (Abatete Ward) in the Idemili North and also used during Ngor Okpala’s House of Assembly bye-election in lmo and Cross River states respectively. The decision that uploaded polling units’ results should not be viewed by Nigerians until validation by RATECHs, many of whom will be recruited for INEC by politicians as ad hoc staff to validate these polling units’ results at the 8,809 wards before Nigerians can view the results is a very weak link in the process.
“This window of opportunity is what will be used to rig the 2023 elections. This plan should be rejected by all political parties and presidential candidates. Nigerians will know the planned beneficiary if they see their proxies or agents advocating for it. All presidential candidates should forget about the 2023 elections if INEC is not compelled to abandon this rigging plan that will spell doom for Nigeria in 2023. According to these insiders at INEC, the idea of validation before the public view was used as a pilot scheme to ensure that if a presiding officer makes a mistake on EC8A result, it will be corrected at the ward level to avoid embarrassment without public knowledge.”
However, a few days after the report was published, the commission released a statement claiming it won’t abandon the transmission of polling unit results to IReV portal.