E-Transmission in Nigerian Elections: How a Manual Option Opens the Door to Manipulation

Introduction: The High-Stakes Battle Over Result Transmission

The integrity of Nigeria’s electoral procedure is as soon as once more at a crucial juncture, targeted on a reputedly technical clause: the earnings of transmitting polling unit effects. A debatable legislative provision, followed right through an emergency consultation, permits for a handbook fallback choice when digital transmission fails. This has ignited a fierce debate, pitting electoral integrity advocates in opposition to a push for operational flexibility. At the vanguard of the opposition is Kenneth Okonkwo, a attorney and member of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), who argues that this “heart floor” is, if truth be told, a perilous loophole that legitimizes election rigging and consequence manipulation.

This article supplies a complete, pedagogical breakdown of the problem. We will transfer past the headlines to discover the felony structure, the technological realities, and the profound implications for Nigerian democracy. The core query isn’t about technological perfection however about developing an unassailable chain of custody for the voter’s mandate. Okonkwo’s stance is unequivocal: best unconditional digital add from the polling unit can keep the sanctity of the vote. Any discretionary handbook choice, he contends, is a call for participation to the very abracadabra that has traditionally marred Nigerian elections.

Key Points: The Core of the Controversy

Before diving into the main points, it is very important to crystallize the elemental arguments and information on the center of this electoral reform debate:

• The Proposed Change: Legislation now lets in electoral officials to hotel to handbook bodily supply of effects if digital transmission (by the use of the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IREV) fails, with out essentially canceling the election.
• The Advocate’s Position: Kenneth Okonkwo and like-minded stakeholders reject this completely. They call for a rule the place failure of digital transmission on the polling unit stage mandates the cancellation and rescheduling of that election, as is recently the rule of thumb for voter accreditation disasters.
• The Integrity Argument: The handbook choice creates a discretionary hole between the polling unit and the collation middle. This hole is strictly the place ancient consequence manipulation, inflation, and mutilation have came about. Electronic transmission from the polling unit seals the outcome in an instant, leaving no room for alteration.
• The Technology Trust Issue: Opponents of the stern digital rule cite possible community disasters, particularly in far off spaces. Proponents, like Okonkwo, counter that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hasn’t ever reported a systemic technological failure on election day and that good enough provisions (like store-and-forward uploads) can care for intermittent connectivity.
• Legal Precedent on Provisos: Okonkwo invokes Supreme Court rulings to argue {that a} “proviso” in a statute (the “the place transmission fails, use handbook” clause) is designed to seriously restrict and qualify the primary clause (the requirement for digital transmission), successfully negating it.
• It’s About Sovereignty: The debate is framed no longer as partisan politics however as a basic struggle for in style sovereignty. The argument is that fraudulent elections produce fraudulent leaders, undermining all nationwide success and democratic consolidation.

Background: Understanding Nigeria’s Electoral Technology Ecosystem

The Tools: BVAS and IREV

To perceive the controversy, one will have to first perceive the 2 key technological inventions offered through INEC in contemporary election cycles:

• BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System): This software is used for voter accreditation (fingerprint and facial popularity) on the polling unit. Its capability is remitted through legislation (Section 47, Subsection 1-3 of the Electoral Act). Crucially, the legislation states that if the BVAS fails to serve as, the election at that polling unit will have to be cancelled and rescheduled.
• IREV (INEC Result Viewing Portal): This is a web-based portal the place effects from polling devices are uploaded and made publicly out there in real-time. The procedure comes to scanning the manually finished Form EC8A (the polling unit consequence sheet) and importing it by the use of a devoted utility. The purpose is digital preservation and transmission, no longer digital collation or vote casting.

The crucial hyperlink Okonkwo highlights is that the similar technological infrastructure (community connectivity, gadgets) is used for each BVAS accreditation and the following IREV add. If a failure on this infrastructure mandates cancellation right through accreditation, he asks, why does a failure right through the only add motion no longer mandate the similar end result?

The 2023 Election Precedent and the “Glitch” Narrative

The 2023 General Election was once marked through standard studies of delays in consequence uploads at the IREV portal. INEC attributed this to “technical system defects” and community problems. However, third-party research, together with statements from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which hosted the portal, indicated no systemic failure on their infrastructure. This discrepancy fueled suspicion that the “glitch” narrative was once a canopy for operational incompetence or, as critics allege, a planned returns to create the stipulations the place handbook intervention—and thus possible manipulation—may happen. The new legislative provision, critics argue, seeks to codify and legitimize that 2023 enjoy.

Analysis: Deconstructing the Arguments and Legal Nuances

The “Proviso” Trap: A Legal Perspective

Okonkwo’s maximum compelling argument is rooted in statutory interpretation. He cites the Supreme Court case NDIC v. Ochem Enterprises Limited (2004), which established that the aim of a proviso in a legislation is to “qualify or reduce down” the primary clause that precedes it. In sensible phrases, including a proviso like “only if the place transmission isn’t imaginable, handbook earnings will likely be used” does no longer beef up the primary clause (which mandates digital transmission); it undermines it. It creates a huge exception that swallows the rule of thumb. The Senate’s model, he argues, successfully nullifies the purpose of unconditional digital transmission through embedding the very discretion that permits manipulation.

The “Network Failure” Canard: Technical and Practical Realities

The argument about spaces with out community protection is the main justification for the handbook fallback. Okonkwo dismantles this on a number of fronts:

1. INEC’s Own Precedent: He issues out that INEC hasn’t ever, to his wisdom, did not transmit effects from any a part of Nigeria in earlier elections the use of the IREV gadget. If the community was once in reality absent in positive places, effects from the ones places would by no means have seemed at the portal, which they did.
2. Store-and-Forward Technology: Modern add programs can queue effects when offline and routinely transmit them as soon as a community connection is restored. This is usual smartphone capability. The argument {that a} consequence will have to be bodily carried on account of a brief loss of sign on the precise second of add is technically flimsy.
3. Resource Allocation: With the cheap working into loads of billions of naira, INEC has an obligation to make sure good enough connectivity on election day, doubtlessly thru partnerships with telecom suppliers or deploying cell hotspots. The declare of helplessness in opposition to community problems rings hole in contrast backdrop.
4. Comparative Standard: The legislation already imposes a harsher usual for BVAS accreditation—a extra advanced, longer-duration procedure than a unmarried dossier add. If the legislation accepts cancellation for BVAS failure, it’s illogical and suspicious to simply accept a decrease usual (handbook fallback) for the easier add procedure.

The Senate vs. House of Representatives: Conflicting Versions

The bicameral legislature has produced two other expenses. The Senate’s model contains the contentious handbook proviso. The House of Representatives’ model is reportedly stricter, aligning extra carefully with the present spirit of the Electoral Act through implying that failure of digital transmission will have to result in cancellation. Okonkwo insists the overall legislation will have to mirror the folks’s will—which is an unbroken digital chain of effects from the polling unit. He believes the House model is nearer to this superb and will have to be the foundation for any harmonization. The legislative convention committee will have to make a choice from a legislation that preserves integrity and person who compromises it.

Practical Advice: What Does This Mean for Voters and Stakeholders?

For the General Public and Civil Society

• Stay Informed and Vocal: Understand the technical and felony nuances. This isn’t an uneventful administrative factor; it’s the number one mechanism for figuring out who holds energy. Public power on legislators is a very powerful.
• Demand Consistency: Advocate for a similar usual for consequence transmission as exists for voter accreditation. Ask: “If a BVAS failure cancels an election, why does not an add failure?”
• Document and Verify: Use the IREV portal (the place practical) to make sure effects out of your polling unit. Be vigilant for discrepancies between the uploaded shape and the consequences you witnessed.
• Build Cross-Partisan Coalitions: As Okonkwo stresses, this isn’t an opposition or ADC struggle. It is a democratic struggle. Support from ruling celebration participants who price credible processes is very important.

For Political Parties and Candidates

• Strengthen Polling Unit Agents: Ensure brokers are educated to file the precise Form EC8A on the polling unit, take transparent pictures, and check its instant add to IREV. Their testimony is significant if a dispute arises.
• Litigation Preparedness: If the handbook choice turns into legislation, felony demanding situations will center of attention on proving {that a} “technical glitch” was once feigned or that the handbook consequence delivered was once altered. Building a contemporaneous document on the polling unit is the most productive proof.
• Public Advocacy: Use your platforms to teach your supporters on why the digital transmission chain issues. Frame it as a non-negotiable component of an excellent contest.

For INEC

• Proactive Infrastructure: INEC will have to publicly exhibit its capability for 100% digital transmission. This contains pre-election pressure checks of the gadget, transparent conversation plans for any authentic, restricted disasters, and contractual agreements with telecoms to ensure minimal bandwidth on election day.
• Transparent Protocols: INEC will have to post a transparent, unambiguous protocol for what constitutes a “failure to transmit” and the process for verifying it. This protocol will have to be designed to forestall abuse and will have to preferably contain celebration brokers within the verification procedure.
• Embrace the Standard: INEC’s public place will have to be that digital transmission from the polling unit is the gold usual and that the legislation will have to mirror this, getting rid of any ambiguity that might taint its personal operational effects.

FAQ: Addressing Common Questions

Q1: Is it sensible to be expecting 100% community protection in all of Nigeria on election day?

A: The expectation isn’t that each and every sq. inch has 5G protection. The expectation is that INEC, with its funds and making plans capability, can be sure that good enough connectivity for a unmarried, small-data-file add from each and every respectable polling unit location. This is an issue of making plans and useful resource allocation, no longer a technological impossibility. The store-and-forward capacity of smartphones addresses brief sign loss.

Q2: What is the adaptation between “digital collation” and “digital transmission” that Okonkwo emphasizes?

A: This is a crucial difference. Electronic collation would imply votes are forged and counted electronically, and totals are compiled through a central pc gadget. No one on this debate is advocating for that. Electronic transmission way the manually counted, bodily signed consequence sheet (Form EC8A) is scanned and uploaded electronically from the polling unit to a central portal (IREV) in an instant after the rely and ahead of any celebration agent leaves. It is set conserving the integrity of the manually got consequence through digitally sealing it at supply.

Q3: If the digital add fails thru no fault of any individual, is not it unfair to cancel all of the election?

A: This is the “equity” argument used to justify the handbook choice. Okonkwo and others invert this: it’s extra unfair to permit a doubtlessly compromised handbook consequence to face. The purpose is to get rid of the chance of manipulation, to not set up its likelihood. The legislation on BVAS operates at the theory {that a} failure within the integrity mechanism (the software) voids the workout. The identical theory will have to follow to the outcome transmission mechanism. Cancellation is a treatment, no longer a punishment, and it preserves without equal equity of the total election through fighting a tainted consequence from one unit from affecting the end result.

This fall: Has digital transmission ever been effectively utilized in Nigeria?

A: Yes. The IREV portal was once used within the 2020 Edo and Ondo State governorship elections and within the 2023 basic election. While the 2023 uploads have been not on time, effects from hundreds of polling devices have been ultimately uploaded and considered. The gadget’s capability, whilst imperfect, demonstrated the technical feasibility. The debate is set making it necessary, instant, and with out a handbook get away hatch.

Conclusion: A Defining Moment for Nigerian Democracy

The legislative fight over the handbook choice in consequence transmission is arguably essentially the most vital electoral reform debate in Nigeria because the advent of the cardboard reader. It will get to the very center of the way energy is conferred: thru a reputable, verifiable expression of the preferred will. Kenneth Okonkwo’s argument is a stark and robust one: that the proposed compromise isn’t a realistic resolution however a constitutional betrayal. It legalizes the fitting vulnerability—the unobserved adventure of the outcome sheet—that has been the epicenter of electoral fraud for many years.

By hard that the legislation require cancellation the place digital transmission fails, he’s hard an ordinary of integrity that fits the sacredness of the vote. He is calling the National Assembly to choose from crafting a legislation that prevents manipulation and person who lets in it beneath a obscure “glitch” exception. The selection ahead of lawmakers is obvious: will they plug the opening within the electoral dam, or will they widen it? The solution will resolve whether or not Nigeria’s elections turn out to be a real mirrored image of the folks’s sovereignty or stay a theatrical workout in pre-determined results.