By Progress Godfrey, Abuja
Speak Out Africa Initiative, SOAI, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to stop further calling of results and investigate reports from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS).
The Executive Director of Speak Out Africa, a civil society organisation, Kenneth Eze, made this known in a preliminary statement issued on Tuesday.
Eze said the ‘overwhelming general consensus’ was that the 2023 general election fell below standard and expectations as INEC was seen to have violated its own guidelines cum electoral act, “perceived to have changed the rules in the midst of the game and on the other hand showing blatant disregard to the germane calls from the citizens.”
He highlighted the failure of the BVAS in uploading results to INEC result viewing portal (IReV) for transparency & checking, discrediting the electoral umpire over failure to deliver in the election processes, rules and guidelines.
He urged INEC to show true independence by listening to the call by local and international observers for a transparent process.
He said, “Several observers both local and international have also aligned to this call for a transparent process; faulting the process. This in turn, has presented whatever the outcome may be, as fraudulent – the electoral umpire must not fall for the trap.
“Hence, they should halt further results announcement, review the results from the affected places and make cancellations where necessary as well as launch an audit into BVAS/ server alleged glitches to salvage the situation – this remains the most viable pathway
“We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to discontinue further announcement of results pending when issues are reviewed and addressed.
“We call for BVAS report audit as well as the server to ascertain the purported glitches, causes and real-time incident report.”
He also called for calm among citizens, advising stakeholders not to resort to violence.