The elections have come and sadly, it just didn’t meet a whole lot of expectations, going by what INEC promised and how much was made about the BVAS and IREV, although the showing of these tools (BVAS and IREV) on the off cycle elections in Osun and Ekiti did give credence to a better general election, sadly this was not the case. It must be said that the Presidential election did have so much issues with the IREV, that’s the collation portal, the BVAS did do well by accrediting and authenticating voters, also it did well by preventing over voting, however the upload from the polling unit, which was supposed to be a game changer didn’t happen as expected, this is where INEC really disappointed a lot of people.
INEC promised a better outing for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, having even postponed it by a week, March 18th came and INEC did perform better with most polling units opening on time and the IREV did work, over 60% of most of the results were uploaded before 10pm of election day, however despite this seemingly improved showing by INEC , the Politicians did bring another angle to thwarting election credibility, by almost unprecedented level of voter suppression and outright hooliganism and ballot box snatching leading to some polling units having the Electoral Officers abducted or in some case in connivance with thugs rewrote the results and uploaded them.
This is the crux of this write up, how do we get around this trend, The BVAS and IREV are very good inclusion to our electoral process, I believe we can add an extra layer to this progress by having what I call Voter Complaint portal. Let me explain, this portal will greatly reduce or even possibly eliminate the issue of violent take over by thugs of polling units or the case where the Polling Unit officer will be in connivance with the thugs to rewrite the election results and upload. This Voter Complaint portal will have voters of any affected polling unit the ability to fill a form online or with the use of a USSD code to register a complaint of non-compliance at their polling unit. If the Polling unit registers above 70% complaints from the voters in that unit, INEC will by law be mandated by law to cancel the results emanating from that polling unit, this automatically makes it futile to either disrupt or abduct a polling unit officer, when you know the voters in that unit have the option of registering a compliant and if they are up to 70% of the unit, the result will be cancelled.

This compliant will be logged in by specific voters of that specific polling unit, since all voters have a unique VIN, this they will use to register online and choose their polling unit they want to make a compliant on, USSD code will also be available for same compliant for those who may not have access to internet or smart phones. INEC will be mandate by law to review the results from any polling unit with over 70% complaints of the registered voters in that unit. A 7day time line will be given for voters to make their complaint. I hope this inclusion to our improvising electoral act will hopefully see an end to this thuggery and brigandage we call elections in Nigeria. Your thoughts are welcome on how this bill can be improved and pushed further to make it to the National Assembly.

Well, INEC gets reports of violence across the country. Where there's violence, their officials report to the higher authorities and the result is cancelled. That's what the act says and they do it. So, I am afraid your online complaint portal may not work because it will make the process cumbersome.

Going forward, I think we need to arm our police to scare bad boys from perpetuating violence during elections. For the sake of familiarity, states should interchange their policemen, including their commissioners swapped days to the election. Afterwards, they return to base.

For those who opine that we should vote online using NIN, we need to trust our INEC first before we migrate to that platform. If we vote in polling units, we all see the results and it should be uploaded on BVAS and iRev in real time. INEC needs to build trust first and increase the turnout to election before we can migrate to online voting. 2023 presidential election turnout of 17% is probably the worst in the history of the country.

Okay let me explain, when INEC gets reports of violence and decides not to act what next? when an electoral officer decides to be corrupt and refuses to reports results where election did not hold what next? I think giving back the people the ability to decide if their polling unit had a fair election or not is key, democracy is about the people, just like with any complaint, once 70% of any polling unit get that by law INEC will be mandated to cancel it, this take away the power from INEC or corrupt politician and put it back to the people, that's democracy in my opinion

SmartPolician:
Well, INEC gets reports of violence across the country. Where there's violence, their officials report to the higher authorities and the result is cancelled. That's what the act says and they do it. So, I am afraid your online complaint portal may not work because it will make the process cumbersome.

Going forward, I think we need to arm our police to scare bad boys from perpetuating violence during elections. For the sake of familiarity, states should interchange their policemen, including their commissioners swapped days to the election. Afterwards, they return to base.

For those who opine that we should vote online using NIN, we need to trust our INEC first before we migrate to that platform. If we vote in polling units, we all see the results and it should be uploaded on BVAS and iRev in real time. INEC needs to build trust first and increase the turnout to election before we can migrate to online voting.

Yookney:
Okay let me explain, when INEC gets reports of violence and decides not to act what next? when an electoral officer decides to be corrupt and refuses to reports results where election did not hold what next? I think giving back the people the ability to decide if their polling unit had a fair election or not is key, democracy is about the people, just like with any complaint, once 70% of any polling unit get that by law INEC will be mandated to cancel it, this take away the power from INEC or corrupt politician and put it back to the people, that's democracy in my opinion

That's why party agents are there to report. That's part of their job description. They report malpractices to their parties and they take it up against INEC.

SmartPolician:


That's why party agents are there to report. That's part of their job description. They report malpractices to their parties and they take it up against INEC.

But we've seen many instances of reports where nothing is done, this option does not require INEC having to decide what to do, but will be mandated by law to take action,

Yookney:
The elections have come and sadly, it just didn’t meet a whole lot of expectations, going by what INEC promised and how much was made about the BVAS and IREV, although the showing of these tools (BVAS and IREV) on the off cycle elections in Osun and Ekiti did give credence to a better general election, sadly this was not the case. It must be said that the Presidential election did have so much issues with the IREV, that’s the collation portal, the BVAS did do well by accrediting and authenticating voters, also it did well by preventing over voting, however the upload from the polling unit, which was supposed to be a game changer didn’t happen as expected, this is where INEC really disappointed a lot of people.
INEC promised a better outing for the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, having even postponed it by a week, March 18th came and INEC did perform better with most polling units opening on time and the IREV did work, over 60% of most of the results were uploaded before 10pm of election day, however despite this seemingly improved showing by INEC , the Politicians did bring another angle to thwarting election credibility, by almost unprecedented level of voter suppression and outright hooliganism and ballot box snatching leading to some polling units having the Electoral Officers abducted or in some case in connivance with thugs rewrote the results and uploaded them.
This is the crux of this write up, how do we get around this trend, The BVAS and IREV are very good inclusion to our electoral process, I believe we can add an extra layer to this progress by having what I call Voter Complaint portal. Let me explain, this portal will greatly reduce or even possibly eliminate the issue of violent take over by thugs of polling units or the case where the Polling Unit officer will be in connivance with the thugs to rewrite the election results and upload. This Voter Complaint portal will have voters of any affected polling unit the ability to fill a form online or with the use of a USSD code to register a complaint of non-compliance at their polling unit. If the Polling unit registers above 70% complaints from the voters in that unit, INEC will by law be mandated by law to cancel the results emanating from that polling unit, this automatically makes it futile to either disrupt or abduct a polling unit officer, when you know the voters in that unit have the option of registering a compliant and if they are up to 70% of the unit, the result will be cancelled.

This compliant will be logged in by specific voters of that specific polling unit, since all voters have a unique VIN, this they will use to register online and choose their polling unit they want to make a compliant on, USSD code will also be available for same compliant for those who may not have access to internet or smart phones. INEC will be mandate by law to review the results from any polling unit with over 70% complaints of the registered voters in that unit. A 7day time line will be given for voters to make their complaint. I hope this inclusion to our improvising electoral act will hopefully see an end to this thuggery and brigandage we call elections in Nigeria. Your thoughts are welcome on how this bill can be improved and pushed further to make it to the National Assembly.

Very very good idea! Keep it up! Another very good idea might be reinstating the security agencies at the polling units with arms to shoot ballot box snatchers and thugs on sight! If not, maybe a few meters to the polling units, for easy and fast mobilisation against these undesirable elements.

SmartPolician:
Well, INEC gets reports of violence across the country. Where there's violence, their officials report to the higher authorities and the result is cancelled. That's what the act says and they do it. So, I am afraid your online complaint portal may not work because it will make the process cumbersome.

Going forward, I think we need to arm our police to scare bad boys from perpetuating violence during elections. For the sake of familiarity, states should interchange their policemen, including their commissioners swapped days to the election. Afterwards, they return to base.

For those who opine that we should vote online using NIN, we need to trust our INEC first before we migrate to that platform. If we vote in polling units, we all see the results and it should be uploaded on BVAS and iRev in real time. INEC needs to build trust first and increase the turnout to election before we can migrate to online voting. 2023 presidential election turnout of 17% is probably the worst in the history of the country.

That was also my idea too! The re-arming of security agents at polling units or at least close to such units is now highly sorely needed!

Yookney:
Okay let me explain, when INEC gets reports of violence and decides not to act what next? when an electoral officer decides to be corrupt and refuses to reports results where election did not hold what next? I think giving back the people the ability to decide if their polling unit had a fair election or not is key, democracy is about the people, just like with any complaint, once 70% of any polling unit get that by law INEC will be mandated to cancel it, this take away the power from INEC or corrupt politician and put it back to the people, that's democracy in my opinion

You are right on this! Also, the public complaints will have to come with video or picture evidence so that nefarious elements who are sore losers that their party lost at their polling units do not take advantage of the system.

yemi1504:


Very very good idea! Keep it up! Another very good idea might be reinstating the security agencies at the polling units with arms to shoot ballot box snatchers and thugs on sight! If not, maybe a few meters to the polling units, for easy and fast mobilisation against these undesirable elements.

Thanks for lending your voice to this discourse, currently the electoral act does provide with having armed officials about 30-100m radius off the polling unit in the event of violence.. but then again if the armed officials have been compromised which in some states they are what next?

yemi1504:


You are right on this! Also, the public complaints will have to come with video or picture evidence so that nefarious elements who are sore losers that their party lost at their polling units do not take advantage of the system.

That's why I'm advocating this additional layer, where petitions signed by 70% of registered voters of any polling unit will automatically mandate INEC by law to cancel it, so this means that even if the politician buys over the police and the polling unit official, he can't buy 70% of the registered voters in that unit in other to averrt cancellation. And this gives back the power to the people which is what democracy is all about

yemi1504:


You are right on this! Also, the public complaints will have to come with video or picture evidence so that nefarious elements who are sore losers that their party lost at their polling units do not take advantage of the system.

And like I said this complaint or petition is simple to file. Login in with your VIN which is a unique identity to every registered voter, choose your polling unit and submit the petition, if you dont have access to internet, USSD code will be made available too, and once any polling unit registers over 70% of complaints automatically INEC will be mandated to cancel that unit

Electronic voting is the only way forward. All these 'stand on the queue and get attacked by yoromuslim thugs at the Polling unit' ​is a waste of time.

We use digital means to transfer money everyday, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, for 365 days, why can't we use digital means to transfer votes to the INEC server in real-time just for 1 day in 4 years after spending hundreds of billions of Nigeria.

What exactly did Mahmoud Yakubu do with N300 billion? Buying papers and plastic ballot boxes?

E-voting is the only way forward, with the number on your PVC and BVN, you stay at home and vote, where your PVC is registered and activated in the e-Polling units and e-constituencies.

It will save costs of logistics, manual collation, eliminate bribery of INEC officials, minimize human interference on polling results and strengthen transparency in real time.

As for going to queue at the polling units and get attacked by dirty thugs and dogs who have no value for lives, that one is a waste of time.

AdaojoTheUrchin:
Electronic voting is the only way forward. All these 'stand on the queue and get attacked by yoromuslim thugs at the Polling unit' ​is a waste of time.

We use digital means to transfer money everyday, sometimes 3 or 4 times a day, for 365 days, why can't we use digital means to transfer votes to the INEC server in real-time just for 1 day in 4 years after spending hundreds of billions of Nigeria.

What exactly did Mahmoud Yakubu do with N300 billion? Buying papers and plastic ballot boxes?

E-voting is the only way forward, with the number on your PVC and BVN, you stay at home and vote, where your PVC is registered and activated in the e-Polling units and e-constituencies.

It will save costs of logistics, manual collation, eliminate bribery of INEC officials, minimize human interference on polling results and strengthen transparency in real time.

As for going to queue at the polling units and get attacked by dirty thugs and dogs who have no value for lives, that one is a waste of time.

While I understand your frustration with the last concluded elections, no advanced democracy not even the US or UK votes electronically , without having to come out, there are many downsides to asking ppl to vote with their phones, what happens to those who don't have phones? How reliable is the backend where the data is received, physical trail of votes are still essential when election disputes arise. We easily say we make payment wit our phones didn't you notice just how difficult it became when many ppl tried doing so at the same time.becos of no cash policy? You can try the whole day and it won't go.Imagine what will happen on election day if you can't vote because of network congestion.

Yookney:


Thanks for lending your voice to this discourse, currently the electoral act does provide with having armed officials about 30-100m radius off the polling unit in the event of violence.. but then again if the armed officials have been compromised which in some states they are what next?

Hmmmm. I didn't know there was that provision! Then, heads should roll for those that compromise.

yemi1504:


Hmmmm. I didn't know there was that provision! Then, heads should roll for those that compromise.

Yes it's check out point f in the section below


126.—(1) No person shall do any of the following acts or things in a polling unit or within a distance of 300 metres of a polling unit on the date on
which an election is held—
(a) canvass for votes ;
(b) solicit for the vote of any voter ;
(c) persuade any voter not to vote for any particular candidate ;
(d) persuade any voter not to vote at the election ;
(e) shout slogans concerning the election ;
(f ) be n possession of any offensive weapon or wear any dress or have any facial or other decoration which in any event is calculated to intimidate voters ;

The armed police can only be 300m away from the polling unit, unarmed officers can be within the polling unit for crowd control and orderliness also to make arrests as stipulated in other parts of the act

yemi1504:


Hmmmm. I didn't know there was that provision! Then, heads should roll for those that compromise.

The truth is many are compromised from the very high level that's why heads will not roll and thats the reason I'm advocating for this bill that gives the voters the right to petition and have their polling unit results cancelled because of violence.