TheNewsGuru

Tag: festus okoye

  • INEC to begin review of 2023 general election in July

    INEC to begin review of 2023 general election in July

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will begin post-election review of the 2023 general election in July.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Mr Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee.

    The statement was issued after the commission’s regular meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

    Okoye said that the decision was in line with the commission’s practice over the years.

    He said that the review would focus on all aspects of the electoral activities before, during and after the elections.

    He said that the review would involve the commission’s officials at national and state levels as well as stakeholders with a view to learning lessons and charting the way forward.

    “The review will commence with a meeting of the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) on July 4 and end with the Commission’s retreat on Aug. 5.

    “At state level, the internal review will involve the Commission’s regular and ad hoc staff, including RECs, the 774 Electoral Officers, Heads of Departments, Administrative Secretaries as well as some presiding officers and collation/returning officers.

    “The external engagement will involve critical stakeholders such as political parties, security agencies, election observers and the the media.

    “Others include service providers such as transporters that facilitated the movement of personnel and materials for the election,” Okoye added.

    He said that INEC welcomes actionable recommendations from stakeholders towards strengthening institutional capacity for the discharge of its responsibilities and the enhancement of processes and procedures.

    He added that a detailed schedule of activities and timelines for the review would be released immediately after the meeting with RECs in July.

  • Adamawa guber: INEC assures of credible supplementary election

    Adamawa guber: INEC assures of credible supplementary election

    INEC assured in Abuja on Saturday that it would conduct credible supplementary governorship election in Adamawa that would be the pride of Nigerians and of the international community.

    INEC’s Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Mr Festus Okoye, gave the assurance when some women staged a protest at the Commission’s headquarters in respect of the Adamawa election.

    The protesters were led by the President, National Council of Women Societies (NCWS), Hajiya Lami Lau.

    INEC had earlier in the week declared the March 18 governorship election in Adamawa as inconclusive.

    The final results tallied by INEC at the election showed that the Adamawa governor, Mr Ahmadu Fintiri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored the highest number of votes.

    The Commission, however, declared that cancelled votes at the election were more than the margin of victory between Fintiri and the runner-up, Sen. Aishatu Binani of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    It said a new date would be fixed for re-run elections in areas where the exercise did not hold on March 18.

    Okoye thanked the women for conducting themselves in a peaceful manner, noting that the Commission belonged to all Nigerians.

    “We regard our role in INEC as public trust; any individual, group or organisations with any grievance or complaint are free to come here and voice or ventilate their grievances.

    “The people of Adamawa are the only ones with the right to elect their governor; those of us in the Commission and Nigerians from other states have no vote in Adamawa.

    “Any individual that is not from Adamawa and who does not reside in the state has no vote in the state.

    “It is only the people of the state that will determine who their next governor will be,’’ Okoye told the protesters.

    He explained that the responsibility of the Commission as an electoral management body was to provide a platform for people of the state to exercise their franchise.

    He added that though the Commission provided the platform, the election was declared inconclusive.

    “We will go back and give the people of the state the opportunity to have a conclusion relating to their governorship election.

    “The Commission will go back to Adamawa and conduct a supplementary election that Nigerians and the international community will be proud of,’’ Okoye stressed.

    The INEC commissioner noted that it had no political party and did not support any political candidate or individual.

    He reiterated that the faith of Adamawa would only be determined by the people of the state.

    He stressed that Nigerians who did not register to vote in Adamawa and those that did not vote in the state had no right to determine who the next governor would be.

    In her remarks earlier, Lau, leader of the protesters, commended INEC for upholding its integrity in Abia and Enugu states by ensuring that the right things were done.

    “In this regard, Nigerian women are demanding the verification of Adamawa governorship election results like it was done in Abia and Enugu,’’ she said.

    She appealed to INEC to release the Adamawa governorship election result of Sen. Binani.

    She added that Nigerian women had vowed not to rest until her mandate was assured.

  • INEC announces dates to issue Certificates of Return to Gov-elect, others

    INEC announces dates to issue Certificates of Return to Gov-elect, others

    INEC has fixed Wednesday, March 29 to Friday March 31 as days for the issuance of Certificates of Return to governors, deputy governors-elect and states Houses of Assembly members-elect.

    Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye made the declaration in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday.

    “By the provisions of Section 72(1) of the Electoral Act 2022, the Commission is mandated to issue a certificate of return within 14 days to every candidate who has been returned elected under the law.

    “Pursuant to the provision, the Commission has fixed Wednesday March 29, Thursday, March 30 and Friday, March 31 for the issuance of Certificates of Return to those elected on March 18.

    “The presentation will take place in INEC offices in each state of the federation,’’ Okoye stated.

    He added that specific dates for the issuance of the certificates would be communicated to those elected by the Resident Electoral Commissioners and Administrative Secretaries of the various states.

  • State elections: INEC vows to tackle proven irregularities

    State elections: INEC vows to tackle proven irregularities

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will take drastic measures against proven irregularities in Saturday’s governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.

    Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, expressed the commitment at a news conference at INEC National Situation Room, Abuja on Sunday.

    He said that the Commission did not take the patience of citizens for granted, pledging to take steps to protect the integrity of the votes and consolidate the progress made so far in the electoral process.

    Okoye said that in line with the commission’s promise to have improved state elections, most polling units nationwide opened on schedule and citizens were attended to promptly during the elections.

    He said there was improved voter authentication using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) while the uploading of Polling Unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) witnessed remarkable improvement.

    Okoye said that INEC left no stone unturned as far as the processes and procedures under its control were concerned.

    “However, for difficult and unforeseen circumstances outside the Commission’s control, we did our best to respond, especially where processes were disrupted by actors over whom we have little or no control.

    “Such diabolical behaviour did not only affect citizens but also impacted on the Commission’s officials and processes.

    “INEC staff, both regular and ad hoc were victims of violence. Some of our staff were abducted, harassed, intimidated, hospitalized and in one case killed.

    “Nevertheless, where we could not deploy to enable citizens to vote, the Commission took the decision to remobilize to such places to enable citizens to exercise their franchise.

    “Unfortunately, we could not extend the same to areas where voting was disrupted, and election materials destroyed.

    “We are keeping our eyes on those areas and would not hesitate to remobilize where the outcome of the election is affected.”

    Okoye said that at the moment, collation of results and declaration of winners for the 28 Governorship and 993 State Assembly elections were ongoing nationwide.

    “We are committed to the sanctity of the process and will not hesitate to take drastic measures against proven irregularities.

    “Allegations of voter inducement, harassment and manipulation of results will be reviewed and addressed,” Okoye said.

    He decried the invasion of the commission office in Obingwa Local Government Area office in Abia during the collation of results for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

    “In contention was the collated result from the Registration Areas for the Governorship election in that Local Government Area.

    “The intention was to force the collation of these contentious results.

    “The behaviour of these thugs is unacceptable and there will be a thorough review of the results,” Okoye said.

    On the last presidential election, Okoye said, “the commission did not deploy to all the 176,846 polling units during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

    “We explained to Nigerians that there were polling units that had zero registered voters and consequently, the Commission deployed to a total of 176,606 polling units.

    “Not only that, there were places where elections did not take place and there were places where the deployment did not take place.

    “So in those areas one does not expect any result to be uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal for such areas,” Okoye said.

    He said while the commission had secured data on the national elections on its reconfigured BVAS, it had been providing political parties the needed data for the prosecution of litigations in court.

    On the Commission’s findings on glitches encountered in uploading presidential election results on IReV, Okoye said there had been improved performance of the portal in terms of uploading of polling units’ results in real time.

    “You can also notice that there was improved performance in terms of voter identification and authentication.

    “What that means is that the commission is making progress and also making efforts to overcome whatever challenges were recorded during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

    “But I believe that in the fullness of time, when we are done with all the elections as an electoral management body, we will still sit down, do both internal and external review of our processes and procedures.

    “There is a possibility that during that time, we may come up with more measures or more actions to make sure that the type of glitch we experienced during the Presidential and National Assembly elections does not reoccur,” he said.

  • Presidential Election: About 170,000 polling units results have been uploaded on IRev – INEC

    Presidential Election: About 170,000 polling units results have been uploaded on IRev – INEC

    The National Commissioner and Chairman,  Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that over 170,000 polling unit results of the Feb. 25 presidential and National Assembly elections have been uploaded on its Result Viewing Portal (IReV).

    Okoye also revealed that the reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) would be completed by Tuesday, March 14, in preparation for the March 18 governorship and state Assembly elections.

    He made this known while featuring on a political programme on Channels Television

    According to him, no political party will be given permission to look into the brain of the BVAS used for voter accreditation and electronic transmission of votes.

    Okoye said, “As of the last time, over 170,000 of those results have been uploaded.

    “In fact, the BVAS will not allow itself to be reconfigured or reset if the entire data isn’t pushed to the accreditation backend.

    “I am sure that by Tuesday when we hope to complete the resettling of the BVAS for the purposes of the governorship and state assembly elections, the results in all the places where elections were conducted would’ve been pushed to the accreditation backend.”

  • Why we postponed Governorship, State Assembly elections – INEC

    Why we postponed Governorship, State Assembly elections – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Wednesday rescheduled Governorship and State House of Assembly elections earlier fixed for March 11 to March 18.

    The commission announced this in a statement by its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, in Abuja on Wednesday night.

    Okoye said that the decision was necessary to ensure adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices used for the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections, and then reconfigure them for the governorship and state assembly polls.

    Okoye said following Wednesday ruling by the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) on the reconfiguration of the BVAS used for the Presidential election, INEC met to assess its impact on the commission’s preparations for the state elections scheduled for March 11.

    He recalled that on March 3, the EPT gave an ex-parte order for some political parties to inspect materials used for the Presidential election, including the forensic inspection of over 176,000 BVAS used in the election which are located in INEC LGA offices across the country.

    He explained that INEC approached the Tribunal to reconsider the order, given that the BVAS Systems were to be deployed for the state elections.

    He said the action was also necessary given the lack of a clearly defined timeframe for the inspection could disrupt the commission’s ability to conduct the outstanding elections.

    “For instance, the BVAS can only be activated on the specific date and time of an election. Having been used for the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Feb. 25, it is necessary to reconfigure the BVAS for activation on the date of the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

    “While the ruling of the Tribunal makes it possible for the commission to commence the preparation of the BVAS for the Governorship and State Assembly elections, it has come far too late for the reconfiguration to be concluded.

    “Consequently, the commission has taken the difficult but necessary decision to reschedule the Governorship and State Assembly elections which will now take place on Saturday March 18,” the statement read in part.

    Okoye said that by the decision, campaigns would continue until midnight of Thursday (March 16); that is 24 hours before the new date for the election.

    “This decision has not been taken lightly but it is necessary to ensure that there is adequate time to back up the data stored on the over 176,000 BVAS machines from the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Feb. 25 and then to reconfigure them for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.

    “This has been the practice for all elections, including the period when the Commission was using the Smart Card Readers,” he asserted.

    Okoye reiterated that INEC was not against litigants inspecting election materials.

    “Consequently, it will continue to grant all litigants access to the materials they require to pursue their cases in court.”

    He assured all political parties and candidates that the data from the Presidential and National Assembly elections would be backed up and available in INEC cloud facilities, including the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV).

    “Political parties can apply for Certified True Copies of the backend data of the BVAS.

    “Also, the results on the BVAS will continue to be available on the IReV for interested parties to access.”

    Okoye appreciated all Nigerians and friends of Nigeria for their understanding as INEC continue to deal with those difficult issues and navigate these challenging times.

  • BVAS can read faces with heavy makeup – INEC

    BVAS can read faces with heavy makeup – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) to be deployed for the forthcoming general election is capable of reading faces with heavy makeup.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mr Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee made the disclosure on Thursday.

    “We have improved on the technology of the BVAS,” Okoye said on a Channels TV programme.

    He went further to say: “In almost all the places where I observed and where National Commissioners observed [during the mock accreditation carried out by the Commission], the voters did not need to use methylated spirits.

    “The BVAS is able to read their fingerprints. The BVAS is also able to read the facials of men and women with heavy makeup because it is able to read the contours of their faces.

    “The BVAS is able to read all the facial makeup of every individual. So, we are slightly more comfortable than we were before with the performance of the BVAS”.

    However, the INEC National Commissioner advised that voters should wear moderate makeup to the polling unit on election day.

  • Revealed! Politicians want us to open BVAS for them – INEC

    Revealed! Politicians want us to open BVAS for them – INEC

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has disclosed that some politicians want the Commission to open up the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for them to gain access.
    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mr Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee disclosed this on Tuesday.
    Okoye said the politicians want to see the inside of the BVAS, in order to know how it functions for them to see whether there’s a possibility for them to clone it or manipulate it.
    “The Commission will not do that,” Okoye said, adding that the BVAS is robust and that it will be a game-changer in the 2023 general elections.
    The INEC National Commissioner, who made a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, also addressed concerns over the possibility of over-voting.
    “Some of these fears are not valid. People are just throwing in issues into the fray to make sure that we disclose to them the complete and entire functionality of the BVAS.
    “There are some politicians who want us to open the brain of the BVAS [machine] so they can see inside the BVAS [machine], to see how it functions and for them to also see whether there’s a possibility for them to clone it or manipulate it and the commission will not do that.
    “Democracy can only be protected by a vigilant people and the law has given the political parties the power and the right to deploy their polling agents to all the polling units in Nigeria and to all the collation centres,” he said.
    Okoye noted that stakeholders are granted access to monitor the entire electoral process to ensure that nobody puts any foreign material into the ballot boxes on election day that will cause over-voting.
    “Our BVAS is a very robust gadget – a very robust instrument, and we have faith in it. We believe it is the ultimate arbiter in terms of those who want to manipulate the process.
    “I think that Nigerians should have faith in the BVAS. It is robust and will be a game-changer in the 2023 general elections,” the INEC official said.
  • BREAKING: Again, INEC extends deadline for PVC collection

    BREAKING: Again, INEC extends deadline for PVC collection

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has again extended the deadline for collecting permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) across the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) report INEC extended the deadline for the collection of PVCs to February 5, 2023.

    INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye disclosed this following a meeting of the electoral management body’s Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

    “Arising from reports from the various States and discussions with Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Commission has decided to further extend PVC collection in all its Local Government Offices nationwide by an additional one week.

    “The ongoing collection of PVCs nationwide will therefore continue and end on 5th February 2023,” Okoye said in a statement on Saturday.

    He added: “This is the second time the Commission is extending PVC collection nationwide and this will be the last extension of the exercise.

    “The collection period has further been extended by an additional two hours and will start at 9 am and end at 5 pm daily including Saturdays and Sundays.”

    “The Commission once again salutes the patience and doggedness of citizens”.

    INEC, therefore, called on Nigerians to report sharp practices in PVC collection centres, assuring that the Commission will act on them.

    “The Commission will continue to act on all reported cases of sharp practices during the ongoing PVC collection and will ensure that no Nigerian is disadvantaged and all those that carried out valid registration have an opportunity of collecting their PVCs,” it said.

  • BREAKING: INEC extends deadline for collection of PVCs

    BREAKING: INEC extends deadline for collection of PVCs

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has extended the deadline for the collection of permanent voter’s cards (PVCs) across the country.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports this as contained in a statement released on Thursday by Festus Okoye, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee.

    According to Okoye, the deadline for collection of PVCs was extended following a regular meeting at the Commission.

    “At its regular meeting held today, Thursday 12th January 2023, the Commission deliberated on a number of issues, including the ongoing collection of Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) nationwide.

    “The Commission is encouraged by the turnout of registered voters and the surge in the number of collected PVCs across the country. In some of the States, as many as 100,000 PVCs were collected in the last five days since the devolution to Ward level started on Saturday 6th January 2023.

    “The Commission is determined to ensure that registered voters have ample opportunity to collect their PVCs ahead of the forthcoming election. For this reason, the timeframe for collection of PVCs is extended by eight days.

    “Instead of ending on Sunday 22nd January 2023, the collection of PVCs will continue until Sunday 29th January 2023. At the moment, the period of collection is 9.00am 3.00pm daily (including Saturdays and Sundays).

    “As a result of this extension, there is a consequential adjustment of the collection by location as follows:

    “1. Collection at Registration Area (Ward) level is extended by one a week from Monday 16th Sunday 22nd January 2023.

    “2. Collection at Local Government level will resume on Monday 23rd – Sunday 29th January 2023,” the statement reads.

    Meanwhile, the Commission disclosed that it is investigating allegations of extortion by officials at some of the collection centres and inducement by some unscrupulous voters to circumvent processes in order to obtain their PVCs.

    “Those found culpable will be face disciplinary action and/or prosecution,” the Commission stated.

    It added: “Similarly, the Commission is disturbed by allegations of discriminatory issuance of PVCs in some locations.

    “This is against the law. All bonafide registrants are entitled to their PVCs and to use them to vote on Election Day in any part of the country where they are registered.

    “Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECS) have been directed to ensure that no such practices occur nationwide and take immediate disciplinary action against violators.

    “For the record, the Commission has printed 13,868,441 PVCs for all new valid registrants as well as applicants for transfer or replacement of cards. Nevertheless, issuing officers should compile any complaints about non-availability of cards and forward them to their immediate supervisors for the attention of Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) who shall compile and forward them for necessary action.

    “The Commission once again appreciates the patience and perseverance of citizens as we continue to finetune our process to make the collection of PVCs easier”.