“We are worried that if unlimited access is given to the 12 National Commissioners to view e-collation of results as currently obtained, they will compromise the 2019 elections, since many of them are APC sympathisers," Dele Adeyanju, spokesperson of the group said.
A group, Concerned Nigerians, has alleged plans by some individuals within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to electronically rig the 2019 general election.
The group, led by Deji Adeyanju, alleged that the electronic collation portal of the commission had been compromised, as it no longer shows location and date of collation of results.
Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, Adeyanju expressed worries over the credibility of the INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, for agreeing to a meeting with Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Alluding to the effectiveness of e-collation, Adeyanju, however stated that the outcome of the election would not be credible if the device does not reflect location, date and time of the collation.
He said: “The validity of results of the 2019 elections will be tied to the credibility of the e-collation portal, especially the imputing of results real-time from polling units across the country. Therefore, if the e-collation will not reflect time, date and location where results are entered from, it means the outcome of the elections will not be credible. The implication of this is that anyone can enter results from any location, at any time and on any date.
“We know for a fact that the correct system at INEC is that the commission shared the e-collation portal three states per commissioner. This was how Amina Zakari was able to view election result collation in real-time and divulge same to her accomplices in APC to help ensure that the Osun State governorship election was inconclusive.
“We are worried that if unlimited access is given to the 12 National Commissioners to view e-collation of results as currently obtained, they will compromise the 2019 elections, since many of them are APC sympathisers.”
The group demanded that the commission grants only the national chairman the access to view the e-collation of results on the INEC portal on election day to prevent manipulation of the 2019 elections.
They also demanded that for the next general election to be regarded as credible, free and fair, the commission should restore the former e-collation system and ensure all electronically collated results on their portal reflect time of input of result, location and date.