Accusations have emerged that certain politicians are attempting to manipulate all or part of the election systems using indirect means. For example, they are creating duplicate EC8 result forms for all polling units. One for the public to see, and one for the politician to manipulate for his or her own purposes.
There are also suggestions that people could collude to manipulate the Result Viewing Portal (IReV). It is suggested that the paper results presented to the public are not always the same results posted on IReV, which could be used to obfuscate results. This strategy was said to be used by some presiding officers in recent elections in Kogi, Ondo, and Edo. In one example, results were posted to IReV even before the closure of the polling unit.
Furthermore, reports indicate that INEC’s technological applications of IReV and BVAS are susceptible to being attacked. Although INEC implemented the technology program to improve transparency in the electoral process, it is thought that this technology is also vulnerable to ‘digitization’ of the election process. Civil society observers who monitored vote/collation counting in Edo state claimed there was a situation where counted votes exceeded accredited voters. While in some cases, the upload of results to IReV was delayed or halted entirely.
There is also increasing concern about the new voter registration. Newly created polling units often have small voter pools, and this may enable partisan groups to dominate registration. There is also abuse of the re-registration and PVC replacement processes, which are used to artificially increase registration numbers. For example, INEC identified almost 28,000 duplicate registrations in Anambra state only.
Meanwhile, INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu’s tenure ends this November. According to reports, President Tinubu is still seeking a successor. Several names appear to be under consideration, though. Many of them are said to be former INEC commissioners or resident electoral commissioners.
In all, there are numerous threats to the coming 2027 elections. Duplicated results, tampered platforms, and lopsided registration raises serious concerns about the elections’ credibility. Civil society, electoral stakeholders, and international observers are presently prompted to intervene.
Lastly, it is important to note that the government on it part is poised to ensuring a successful election and needs to intensify efforts to safeguard Nigeria’s democracy.