The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was warned yesterday that the credibility of its elections in 2019 may be threatened by electronic manipulation. It was further told that the manipulation was being planned by some persons within its ranks. The alarm was raised by the convener of Concerned Nigerians, Deji Adeyanju, at a press briefing in Abuja. Reliable sources in INEC revealed that the commission’s e-collation portal has been tampered with, Adeyanju said, warning that this could lead to the creation of virtual polling units. According to him, while e-collation remains the most potent way to end vote rigging, a faulty system means anyone could enter results from any location at anytime or date because the portal allegedly no longer shows location, time and date of collation.
He stressed that the validity of results in next year’s elections would be tied to the credibility of the e-collation portal, especially the inputting of results in real-time from polling units across the country.
He also expressed worry over alleged unrestricted access to the portal given to INEC’s commissioners, claiming many of the commissioners are sympathetic to one of the major political parties.
Full Article: Nigeria: ‘How Virtual Polling Units May Mar 2019 Elections’ – allAfrica.com.
