#NigeriaElections2023: INEC tells political parties, media to draw results only from commission
The Independent National Electoral( INEC) has appealed to all political parties and media organisations to draw their election results only from the official results released by the commission.
INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said on Sunday during the official opening of the Presidential Collation Centre that collation of Presidential election results in Nigeria is done at four levels after the completion of voting, counting and recording of results at the various polling units.
According to him, “The results are first tallied and collated at the 8,809 registration areas and wards. The collated ward level results are tallied and collated at the 774 local government areas nationwide. Thereafter, they are tallied and collated in each of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
“The collated figures for each state and the Federal Capital Territory are finally collated here in Abuja, where the announcement of the outcome of the election will be made by the Returning Officer for the presidential election, who also doubles as the Chief Electoral commissioner of the Federation. And this is a duty that I am privileged to perform and it will be done here.”
He further gave the procedure and set the ground rules for the proceedings as: “All accredited agents, observers, the media, the diplomatic community, and the security agencies should adhere to the sitting positions assigned to them.
“Result results for each state of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory shall be presented by the State Coalition Officer for the Presidential Election or simply put the (SCOPE), who will also serve as the collation officer at State and the FCT level. After collating the results at state level, the SCOPE shall be accompanied to Abuja by the Resident, Electoral Commission and security agencies.
“On arrival at the Collation Center, the SCOPE shall be received by the Collation Secretariat, which shall organize the sequence of presentation. The Returning Officer shall invite the SCOPE accompanied by the Resident Electoral Commissioner to the seat we are going to provide for the presentation of the results.
“These SCOPE following the format for the presentation of results, shall loudly announce the votes scored by each political party in the state including reports of cancellations and areas where elections did not hold,if any.”
He appealed to all political parties and media organizations to draw their figures only from the official results released by the Commission, as the only body constitutionally responsible for the release of official election figures.
He said, “As we await the arrival of the SCOPEs, we will now take a break and resume at 6pm. We are certain that by 6pm, one or two of the SCOPEs will arrive with the results, so we begin the process of collation.”
