Protesters Storm National Collation Centre Over IReV Failure

Protesters yesterday morning stormed the National Collation Centre (NCC) for the 2023 general election at International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja over the failure of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to upload election results on the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

The protesters with placards with inscriptions such as: “#INEC Keep Your Promise; #Bring Back IRev; No IReV no collation; “Nigeria Is Not For Sale; We Must Fight For Justice”; President Muhammadu Buhari Keep Your Promise; Our Vote Must Count”, also expressed their displeasure with the election results, and the failure of the Commission to upload the election result electronically.

The electoral body had earlier said the challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal, saying it takes full responsibility for the challenges encountered and regretted the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties, and the electorate.

The commission said the problem was due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season State elections, to one for managing nationwide general elections. The protesters were yet to be addressed by INEC representatives.

Speaking with newsmen during the protest which took place at Emeka Anyaoku street (about a kilometre to the coalition centre), one of the protesters, Ilemona Onoja, said their major demand is for the INEC chairman to fulfil what he promised Nigerians severally before the election, which is transparent and open process.

According to Onoja, “The process is not being followed. Instead, what we are seeing is a situation where results that were written, that didn’t follow the process, are being announced as the results of the election contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act, contrary to the INEC guidelines that they issued, and contrary to the promises of the INEC chairman.

“We came out on the 25th of February to cast our votes for our preferred candidates. We were told that a process was going to be followed. This process involves accreditation, voting and our ballots will be counted. After it has been counted, it will be transmitted directly to a central server. And on the day of the election, at the national collation centre, that central server will be displayed and we will be able to follow the results.”

He said they don’t mind if its preferred candidate loses, but they want a transparent and open process.

He noted that they want to be able to see the results.

He said, ”INEC promised us they will follow a certain procedure, we are asking them to follow it.”

Also, another protester, Barr. Lillian Kozau, called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to allow his image be tarnished and his legacy be destroyed by the INEC.