from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
Nigeria Bureau
ABUJA, (CAJ News) – AS Nigeria continues to search for credible elections, the debate over technology-driven voting and result collation has intensified.
Adding her voice to the national conversation, seasoned media practitioner and President of the nongovernmental organization, Citizens Quest for Truth Initiative, Chief Christie Obiaruko Ndukwe, has openly endorsed the electronic transmission of election results to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (iRev), describing it as a critical safeguard against election fraud and theft.
In a Facebook post, Chief Obiaruko stated, “I am for E-Transmission of results to the INEC iRev as long as we can get 80% accuracy without forced manipulation of the figures as we saw at the Obingwa Local Government of Abia State.”
According to her, the core concern is not digital transmission itself but data integrity.
She explained, “the real issue is not the transmission, but what exactly is going to be transmitted – cooked or actual figures?”
She further emphasized the role of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), saying, “The BVAS is supposed to give accurate data on the accredited numbers and in turn, the actual votes. Not a situation where the accredited voters are more than the registered voters in a particular unit, ward or LGA.”
Chief Obiaruko also raised concerns about institutional control of technology, noting, “There is no doubt that INEC has the code to switch off the network in real time to avoid uploading in real time. We saw it happen and unfortunately, the laws have no action or punishment for such.”
She added, “The laws have always been there, but the challenge is with no implementation of the laws. And this to me is a deliberate sabotage! Every technical system could be sabotaged.”
Highlighting real-world risks, she cited infrastructure attacks, stating that insurgents and terrorists have repeatedly brought down the national grid.
She warned, “Hackers have also been on the prowl, trying multiple times to hack into the INEC Server.”
To close these gaps, she proposed legislative action: “the National Assembly should amend the Electoral Act to read: Electronic Transmission in real time/Transfer of Results or whatever INEC decides depending on the areas with irreversible challenges.”
She concluded, “Tomorrow, we hope to see a proper harmonization of the report from the two sections of the National Assembly (NASS). A voice vote or actual votes will make it more transparent.”
Reacting, Azubuike Peterside Oweguom cautioned, “The word ‘Transfer’ still gives political actors or INEC the same opportunity to do what they’re known for.”
He argued, “The ideal thing should be ‘outright cancellation wherever there’s network glitches’… We must not start giving room for a repetitive concern of the 2023 presidential election in Rivers state where the will of the people clearly short-change for ministerial position.”
Beyond politics, technology offers clear advantages over manual systems: real-time transparency, reduced human interference, automated audit trails, and faster dispute resolution.
While no system is flawless, digital election technologies—when backed by strong laws, redundancy, and accountability—remain one of the most effective tools for protecting the true will of voters in modern democracies.
– CAJ News