•Commission seeks media support to checkmate misinformation
• ‘We will deploy appropriate technology for 2023 polls’
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday gave details of how 23 of the Registration Officers it deployed for the just-concluded Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) tried to compromise the process.
The commission said the indicted officers were involved in fictitious registration but were tracked through the access code tied to their dedicated email addresses assigned for the registration.
INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, revealed this at a quarterly meeting of the commission with civil society organisations (CSOs) yesterday in Abuja.
The INEC chairman said in some cases, the culprits made as many as 40 attempts and more to register one fake voter.
He said the 23 officers involved in the unethical conduct are currently facing disciplinary action.
“The commission deployed thousands of diligent workers for the CVR and the vast majority of them discharged their duties conscientiously.
“Unfortunately, a few of them did not. The fictitious registrations were carried out by some of our Registration Officers involved in the field exercise and could easily be traced. Each registration machine is operated using an access code tied to a dedicated e-mail assigned to a staff member. There is, therefore, an audit trail that gives the total number of persons registered by each official involved in the registration.
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“In some cases, some of them made as many as 40 attempts or more to register one fake voter. As a result, the commission has so far identified 23 Registration Officers involved in this unethical conduct and disciplinary action has commenced.
“We shall continue to protect the integrity of our voters’ register. It is pivotal to credible elections. It is also a national asset and easily the largest database of citizens in Africa and one of the largest in the world,” Yakubu said.
Also, the INEC chairman sought the cooperation of the media to checkmate the flow of misinformation ahead of the 2023 general election.
He said: “As the 2023 general election approaches, we shall continue to work together to counter disinformation and misinformation. We will remain transparent and provide the required information to combat the triple menace as an antidote to fake news.
“Therefore, there will be need for more frequent and intense engagements with you ahead of the election. We hope that in spite of your competing activities, you will continue to honour our invitation.”
Yakubu also restated the commission’s commitment to the deployment of appropriate technology for the conduct of the 2023 polls.
He said: “With exactly 120 days to the 2023 general election, we are clearly heading down the home stretch. At a similar consultative meeting with political parties yesterday, I reassured Nigerians of our commitment to credible elections supported by appropriate technology.
“Voters will be accredited by means of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). There will be no incident form. Results will be transmitted to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal in real time on Election Day. We are committed to ensuring that the 2023 general election is transparent and credible, reflecting the will of the Nigerian people.”