As Nigeria prepares to hold its seventh consecutive general election since the country returned to democracy in 1999, an Application called Wardchat has been unveiled to engender free and fair elections in the country.
The upcoming elections in 2023 will be the first general election under the nation’s new electoral legislation, signed into law in February 2022.
The new Electoral Act allows for advanced technological deployment in the electoral process, including the electronic transmission of polling results.
This largely suggests that voter confidence in the transparency of elections will significantly improve.
According to the promoters of the App, “time is a crucial element in politics. Ensuring that campaigns get to state, local government, ward and polling levels in real time. For the first time in a general election, the public will be able to access the results instantly posted from the polling units on election day through the portal, enabling citizens to calculate these outcomes even before INEC collates and announces them, hence the need to be a step ahead technogically and ensure that there is a technology that reports the electioneering process live from the polling units where the real elections take place.”
Spokesperson for Wardchat, Mr. Babajide Akinbohun, who was present at the official inauguration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, which was held at the banquet hall of the Aso Rock Villa in Abuja on Friday, said Wardchat, amongst other things, will put an end to rigging of elections and doctoring of election results in Nigeria.
He said the introduction of the App was aimed at creating a transparency in the nation’s electoral system.
Akinbohun noted that the App connects voters in one location to voters in another location within a State, local government area, ward and polling unit.
“It’s a platform to interact, debate, socialise and report electioneering activities and results,” he reiterated.
He added that the uniqueness of the App is that it makes a voter know his or her fellow voters in a polling unit and allows communication among them even before they physically meet each other on election day.
“It provides a chatting platform for fun lovers with video and picture options. The wardchat app is the first social/voters network in Africa,” he stated.
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