The head of Nigeria’s electoral body has promised that results from this Saturday’s local elections in the capital, Abuja, will be transmitted electronically to a public portal, as the commission seeks to rebuild trust with a skeptical public.
Speaking during a final assessment tour of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) ahead of the 21 February polls, Professor Joash Amupitan, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), dismissed concerns over the transparency of the vote counting process.”The results will be transmitted,” Professor Amupitan told reporters, insisting that the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to upload results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal is now standard practice.”We must begin to redeem our image through what we do, not necessarily what we say,” he added, acknowledging the pressure on the commission to prove its integrity following previous electoral controversies.’
100% Ready
The assurance comes as electoral officers on the ground reported they are virtually set for the 1.5 million residents expected to cast their ballots across the six Area Councils.In some districts, officials claimed a “100 per cent” readiness level. The Electoral Officers for Kuje, Gwagwalada, and Bwari informed the Chairman that:
Logistics: Non-sensitive materials have been sorted and batched for immediate dispatch.
Personnel: Training for thousands of temporary polling staff has been completed.
Security: New coordination plans with the police are in place to protect “flashpoint” areas prone to disruption.”I personally went into the stores to confirm that everything is in place,” Professor Amupitan said, stating that there was “no room for excuses” regarding delays on Saturday morning.
Why this vote matters
The FCT election is the only local-level poll managed by the national commission rather than state governments. As such, it is frequently viewed as a litmus test for Nigeria’s broader democratic health and the reliability of its voting technology. With polls set to open at 08:30 local time on Saturday, the commission’s biggest challenge remains convincing a wary electorate that their digital “upload” will match the paper reality at the polling stations.
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