₦airaland Forum

The 2023 general election exposed a brutal truth about Nigeria’s democracy: those in power fear transparency.

Before the election, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu repeatedly promised Nigerians that results would be electronically transmitted in real time from polling units to the IREV portal. That promise collapsed on election day and was casually dismissed as a “glitch.” When challenged in court, the excuse became even more convenient, the Electoral Act did not mandate electronic transmission.

Instead of pushing reforms to correct this failure, Tinubu, the APC, and their supporters went on the defensive.

Since then, Tinubu supporters have flooded the public space with unreasonable and contradictory excuses: for example

They said that Nigeria is not ripe for electronic transmission, that there is no internet across the country, Technology will disenfranchise rural voters

These arguments are not only dishonest, they are insulting.

Nigerians use smartphones, mobile banking, POS machines, BVN verification, and digital transfers daily, even in remote communities. INEC itself used technology for voter accreditation through BVAS. Yet suddenly, when it comes to transmitting results, Nigeria is “not ready”?

That claim collapses under the weight of reality.

The APC controls the presidency and over 30 state governments. No ruling party in Nigeria’s recent history has wielded this level of power. A party this dominant should be confident enough to submit itself to free, fair, and verifiable elections.

So why the panic?

Why resist a system that simply uploads results from polling units where votes are cast into the public domain in real time?

The answer is obvious: opacity benefits manipulation.
Fear of Reform, Fear of the People;
Across Nigeria, citizens, civil society, and opposition parties are united in one demand: make electronic transmission of results mandatory. Only one camp resists Tinubu, the APC, and their supporters.

Their resistance speaks louder than any campaign slogan. It suggests that the current systemdelays, human interference, and backroom collation, works perfectly for them.

A government that truly believes in its mandate does not fear reform. It demands it.

Until electronic transmission is made mandatory, Nigerians will continue to ask the question Tinubu supporters refuse to answer:

What exactly are they afraid of?

The Lp, ADC and PDP senators and house of rep members who are also against it are also Tinubu supporters.

Electronic transmission or not Tinubu will still win all the 36states.

Someone that controls governors, controls federal politicians, control courts, control INEC..

What tinubu is still afraid of baffles me.. okay, leme guess..

He feels if real time result transmission in are allowed and if he lost and tries to change it . And protest begins..

If he tries to supress the protest, he cannot entirely bank on the army to help him since after some group tried to oust him... In that case, he prefers not to get to that situation

garykoeman:
The Lp, ADC and PDP senators and house of rep members who are also against it are also Tinubu supporters.

Electronic transmission or not Tinubu will still win all the 36states.

He will not win... Those ppl u mentioned are are opposed to it , not cuz of tinubu , but cus if themselves.. they know only rigging brought them there

bigpicture001:
He will not win... Those ppl u mentioned are are opposed to it , not cuz of tinubu , but cus if themselves.. they know only rigging brought them there

Ok, who will win.

garykoeman:
Ok, who will win.

It will go to a run off.. ND the second Election will b close but the coalition opposition will win

bigpicture001:
It will go to a run off.. ND the second Election will b close but the coalition opposition will win

Same coalition that only existed online.

Offline they are not visible.

Incoming Fct municipal election will clear your doubt.

People who know that ordinarily that cannot win an election ,you want them to allow free and fair election with electronic transmission?

garykoeman:
The Lp, ADC and PDP senators and house of rep members who are also against it are also Tinubu supporters.

Electronic transmission or not Tinubu will still win all the 36states.

Do not make wild, unverified claims here.
Mention the LP, ADC, and PDP senators and House of Representatives members who oppose it.

garykoeman:
Same coalition that only existed online.

Offline they are not visible.

Incoming Fct municipal election will clear your doubt.

Do u know I have never ever voted for a local government Election?

But have not missed even one presidential election...

It's not the same motivation, it's not the same aim.. dnt judge big Elections by small Elections..

Many vote candidate, and not party!

bigpicture001:
Do u know I have never ever voted for a local government Election?

But have not missed even one presidential election...

It's not the same motivation, it's not the same aim.. dnt judge big Elections by small Elections..

Many vote candidate, and not party!

The next presidential election is less than a year.

And coalition are in disarray on who will be president and vp.

Compare that to 2015 when almost everyone knew buhari will be the opposition flag bearer.

Mind you APC control largest population voting states. E.g Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and rivers, which has always determined the previous election victors.

Ofunaofu:
Do not make wild, unverified claims here.
Mention the LP, ADC, and PDP senators and House of Representatives members who oppose it.

How many of them stood up to oppose akpabio.

After how many years and how many years billions and trillions of tax payers monies, these guys are not still ready for real-time e-transmission of election results, says FG.

these guys (a handful of people) are taking the masses (200,000,000) for granted, they are insulting their intelligence.

Nigerians are just too nice and gentle, this gat to stop. These guys need to be thought a kesson

I have always been of the opinion that the worse form of democracy always trumped the best of military dictatorship. At this point I really don't care anymore. I give up on the Nigerian brand of democracy. This is the last straw.

But at this point I really don't care anymore. Whatever

Because we want to show you pepper 🌶.
We enjoy when you cry rigging after every election

garykoeman:
The next presidential election is less than a year.

And coalition are in disarray on who will be president and vp.

Compare that to 2015 when almost everyone knew buhari will be the opposition flag bearer.

Mind you APC control largest population voting states. E.g Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and rivers, which has always determined the previous election victors.

APC controlled Lagos, but Obi won Lagos overwhelmingly...

It's about the people, not the government party

garykoeman:
How many of them stood up to oppose akpabio.

You are deflecting

Mention the LP, ADC, and PDP senators and House of Representatives members who oppose mandatory transmission of elections results

garykoeman:
The Lp, ADC and PDP senators and house of rep members who are also against it are also Tinubu supporters.

Electronic transmission or not Tinubu will still win all the 36states.

Oga no one LP, ADC and PDP lawmakers is against it, APC is fearing free and fair election.

If elections were to be held free and fair, many "political giants" in Nigeria will not even stand a chance!!!

Abee79:
If elections were to be held free and fair, many "political giants" in Nigeria will not even stand a chance!!!

Not necessarily! You underestimate the capacity of some illiterate, uninformed and daft voters to be easily influenced by tribal, religious and rankadede/slavish sentiments!

garykoeman:
The next presidential election is less than a year.

And coalition are in disarray on who will be president and vp.

Compare that to 2015 when almost everyone knew buhari will be the opposition flag bearer.

Mind you APC control largest population voting states. E.g Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and rivers, which has always determined the previous election victors.

Same Lagos that apc lost in 2023,or you think Govs decide election for states?

Bobloco:
Until electronic transmission is made mandatory, Nigerians will continue to ask the question Tinubu supporters refuse to answer:

What exactly are they afraid of?

To clarify before I respond, I am not a "Tinubu supporter".

Ordinary glitch that Yakubu said happened to IREV, Obidients nearly killed us neutrals here.

Until cloud providers can guarantee 100% uptime, anything but an electronic back up repository of election results is the furthest we should go technologically.

The human in the middle factor must be present and must be part of the primary source of truth of any election.

We haven't perfected IREV, yet you want to put technology deeper into more sensitive parts of the process, who does that?

Obidients need to rest on this matter, there is no basis for this being allowed to happen now. You people are just looking for excuses to disturb the rest of us when you lose again.

Go and concentrate on your life. The massive rigging that you did in South East in 2023 will not happen again

If Nigeria is ripe for new tax law, we are ready for electronic transfer of results. If INEC uses mandatory electronics registration of voters, we are ready for electronic transmission of result.

Therefore, the following must be mandatory for any election in Nigeria; only use of card reader, no use of incidence form, electronic voting and transmission of results and quick modalities for post-election litigations. We can't keep revolving in darkness and remain a laughing stock globally

Abee79:
If elections were to be held free and fair, many "political giants" in Nigeria will not even stand a chance!!!

And Nigeria must get to that stage. This is the only way to sanitize the electoral hence constitutional and democratic processes.

Racoon:
And Nigeria must get to that stage. This is the only way to sanitize the electoral hence constitutional and democratic processes.

I agree with you!

IGBOPROMISE1:
Not necessarily! You underestimate the capacity of some illiterate, uninformed and daft voters to be easily influenced by tribal, religious and rankadede/slavish sentiments!

I totally agree with your point 👍

Ofunaofu:
You are deflecting

Mention the LP, ADC, and PDP senators and House of Representatives members who oppose mandatory transmission of elections results

Is that the issue? Nigerians want real-time transmission. QED

aswani:
To clarify before I respond, I am not a "Tinubu supporter".

Ordinary glitch that Yakubu said happened to IREV, Obidients nearly killed us neutrals here.

Until cloud providers can guarantee 100% uptime, anything but an electronic back up repository of election results is the furthest we should go technologically.

The human in the middle factor must be present and must be part of the primary source of truth of any election.

We haven't perfected IREV, yet you want to put technology deeper into more sensitive parts of the process, who does that?

Obidients need to rest on this matter, there is no basis for this being allowed to happen now. You people are just looking for excuses to disturb the rest of us when you lose again.

Saying cloud providers can’t guarantee 100% uptime is a red herring. No serious system, elections included, relies on a single point of failure. Electronic transmission doesn’t remove human processes; it duplicates and secures them. The irony is that the same people demanding human-in-the-middle trust are defending a system where the least accountable humans have the most discretion.

IREV didn’t fail because technology is inherently unreliable; it failed because technology was deliberately subordinated to opaque human control. And here’s the part everyone keeps skipping: did INEC ever clearly explain to Nigerians what caused the “glitch,” publish a technical incident report, or outline concrete mitigation steps? That’s the bare minimum any serious public institution owes the public after a system failure.

Every credible democracy uses layered systems: physical records, electronic transmission, public verification, and independent audits. Nigeria insisting on manual dominance in 2025 isn’t caution, it’s an admission that some people benefit from ambiguity.

So the question isn’t why deepen technology?
It is actually why is transparency the one thing that must wait until perfection?

And if asking for verifiable, time-stamped, publicly auditable results is now disturbing neutrals, then maybe neutrality is just comfort with a broken process, until it personally stops working for you.

The truth is that you are a Tinubu supporter, don't hide

bigpicture001:
Someone that controls governors, controls federal politicians, control courts, control INEC..

What tinubu is still afraid of baffles me.. okay, leme guess..

He feels if real time result transmission in are allowed and if he lost and tries to change it . And protest begins..

If he tries to supress the protest, he cannot entirely bank on the army to help him since after some group tried to oust him... In that case, he prefers not to get to that situation

If you know the real results in 2023, you will understand.

aswani:
To clarify before I respond, I am not a "Tinubu supporter".

Ordinary glitch that Yakubu said happened to IREV, Obidients nearly killed us neutrals here.

Until cloud providers can guarantee 100% uptime, anything but an electronic back up repository of election results is the furthest we should go technologically.

The human in the middle factor must be present and must be part of the primary source of truth of any election.

We haven't perfected IREV, yet you want to put technology deeper into more sensitive parts of the process, who does that?

Obidients need to rest on this matter, there is no basis for this being allowed to happen now. You people are just looking for excuses to disturb the rest of us when you lose again.

Stop speaking from two side of your mouth. Come out boldly and stand on SW president mandate

They all know THIEFNIBU can never win a FREE and FAIR election, even THIEFNIBU himself knows that too.

Streetinvestor2:
Stop speaking from two side of your mouth. Come out boldly and stand on SW president mandate

Why should I stand on a mandate I am not part if, rest oga