Dino Melaye, former senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District and party agent of the Peoples Democratic party (PDP), has protested the manner in which presidential election results are presented by the collation and returning electoral officers at the national collation centre in Abuja.
The results of the presidential elections are being called out from hardcopy papers by collation and returning officers. Melaye is insisting that this is wrong and not in line with the provisions of the law. According to him, the results of the election should be shown on a screen as recorded and transmitted from the various polling units where elections were conducted in Nigeria.
He made these assertions when party agents present at the collation centre were asked by Mahmud Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to give their observations after the Kwara state presidential results were presented by the Kwara state collation and returning officers.
Dino cited various legal provisions in the Electoral Act 2022 for his assertions and the validity of his assertions have been questioned. However, the former senator may have done his homework.
Section 64 (4) of the Electoral Act s that “a collation officer or returning officer at an election shall collate and announce the result of an election, subject to his or her verification and confirmation that the number of accredited voters stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the number of accredited voters recorded and transmitted directly from polling units and that the votes stated on the collated result are correct and consistent with the votes or results recorded and transmitted directly from polling units.
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More so, 64 (6) states that “where during collation of results, there is a dispute regarding a collated result or the result of an election from any polling unit, the collation officer or returning officer shall use the following to determine the correctness of the disputed result – the original of the disputed collated result for each polling unit where the election is disputed ; the smart card reader or other technology device used for accreditation of voters in each polling unit where the election is disputed for the purpose of obtaining accreditation data directly from the smart card reader or technology device; data of accreditation recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed and; the votes and result of the election recorded and transmitted directly from each polling unit where the election is disputed.
The law makes reference to the use of data recorded and transmitted at the polling units in every step of the collation process but while Dino Melaye and other party agents protested the Ekiti and Kwara states result, this was not done.
The provision is to the effect that where dispute arises during collation of results, the collation officer or returning officer must look into these disputes and determine the correctness or otherwise of the disputed result. The law insists that the disputes must be tackled there and then.
According to Dino Melaye, so far Mahmud Yakubu, chairman of the INEC has dismissed and “vehemently evaded” these observations raised saying “we will come back to your observations, let us call on the next state to make its presentation”
This incited Dino Melaye who fiercely insisted that “we cannot go to the next state”, despite INEC chairman labelling him as being “deliberately disruptive of the collation process”.
According to Dino, what is uploaded is what should be presented.
He also noted that the Electoral Act provided for this and that he needed a confirmation from the Kwara state collation officer to at least state that what is uploaded is what he presented before everyone
The former senator understands the implication of this, hence, his insistence. According to 64 (9) of the Electoral Act 2022, “a returning officer or collation officer, as the case may be, commits an offence if he or she intentionally collates or announces a false result and is liable on conviction to a fine of N5,000,000 or imprisonment for a term of at least three years or both.
This means that such an officer is liable if he presents a false result. However, neither the collation officer nor the resident officer affirmed that the results presented were obtained from the votes recorded and transmitted from the polling units.
The law provides in sections 60 (1) and (5) that “the presiding officer at every polling unit shall, after counting the votes at the polling unit, enter the votes scored by each candidate in a form to be prescribed by the Commission as the case may be and; transfer the results including total number of accredited voters and the results of the ballot in a manner as prescribed by the Commission.
The prescribed manner here is the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which the INEC introduced to ensure that the electoral process is free, fair and credible.
INEC is yet to react to the allegations.
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