The electoral tribunal sitting in Asaba, Delta state has admitted key documents in the last governorship election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accreditation report shows that the winner of the Delta state governorship election, Ifeanyi Okowa, had more votes than the number of accredited voters.
Some documents that have been admitted includes ; card readers, accreditation report by INEC. Two INEC officials ;Assistant Director, ICT Department from Abuja headquarters and Chief Planning Officer, Delta State office have been directed to testify about what happened during the April 11th election.
The candidate of All Progressive Congress (APC) has been challenging the votes results since it was announced, refuting the claim that Ifeanyi Okowa won the election.
In the testimony of the INEC officials, they said;
All documents tendered were duly certified by INEC, that the card reader has three (3) functions to with; identification of voters, verification of PVC holder and voter’s authentication on Election Day.
The card readers recorded no sustained failure during the governorship election in delta state and accredited numbers of voters as at April 29th was 709,000 and at the expiration of the shutting down of data upload, the final tally was 715,393
But on April 13, Delta State INEC had put the figure of accredited voters at 1,017,796, exceeding actual accreditation number revealed by the admitted report obtained from INEC central server
Ifeanyi Okowa was announced winner of the election on April 13th, 2015 by the INEC returning officer, Bio Nyananyo, and he won by 724,680 votes, which is 14,980 more than accredited voters
Also a manual was presented to the tribunal by INEC, the manual is the guidelines for officials in the 2015 election, which states that all accreditations for governorship election must be done only through card readers, and it is mandatory all officials follow the guidelines.
Ifeanyi Okowa had tried to stop the INEC officials' testimony and also for the documents not to be admissible in the tribunal, but all were strongly objected by the tribunal.
Abuja, Nigeria: Nigerians have voted for a new president in the 2015 election. The National electoral commission who had been announcing the results of different states finally finished the count on Tuesday after the committee resumed for the fourth and last sitting at 8pm(Local time).
The INEC Chairman said this after all states announced their election results :
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, having taken results from the 36 states + the FCT, we will proceed with computation and tallying. Nat. Comm of INEC, distinguished ladies and gentlemen we are now ready to announce the 2015 results. As we are all aware 14 candidates from 14 parties were fielded for the elections.
No of Accredited voters": 31,746,490
AA: 22,125,
ACPN:40,311
AD:30,673
ADC:29,666
APA:53,537
APC:15,424,921
CPP:36,300
HOPE:7,435
KOWA: 13,076
NCP:24,455
PDP:12,853,162
PPM:24,475
UDP:9,208
UPP:18,220
Representatives of political parties are invited to come & sign the result sheets before Prof. Jega makes the Return. Total valid votes: 28,587,564
Rejected votes: 844,519
Total Votes Cast: 29,432,083
Distinguished ladies/gentlemen, it is now time for the declaration of the results, I Prof. Attahiru Mohammed Jega hereby certify that:
1)I was the RO of the Pres. Election held on the 28 March, 2015
2)The Election was contested
3)That the candidates received the ff votes:
-Senator Anifowoshe: 22,125
-Alhaji Galadima: 40,311
-Rafiu Salau: 30,673
-Dr.Mani I.: 29,666
-Ayeni Musa:53,537
-ThisIsBuhari:15,424,921
-Chief Sam E.:36,300
-Ambrose Owuru:7,435
-oluremisonaiya:13,076
-Martins Onovo:24,455
-Goodluck Ebele Jonathan:12,853,162
-Allagoa Kelvin Chinedu:24,475
-Godson Mgbodile O.Okoye:9,208
-Dr.Chekwas Okorie: 18,220
4)That Mohammed Buhari, APC, having satisfied the requirement of the law and scored the highest no.of votes is hereby returned the winner
General Muhammadu Buhari of APCNigeria is hereby returned the winner.
Nigeria: The preliminary presidential results are starting to be collated at each states by INEC. According to Saharareporters, General Muhammadu Buhari is leading president Jonathan in 20 states. INEC is yet to release the official results from all states, but elections observers have been sending out results.
Rivers State, Nigeria: The Rivers state governor, Governor Rotimi Amaechi has called on INEC to cancel the election in his state. The governor while speaking to Sahara TV said that people in his state are not allowed to vote by the opposition party, the PDP.
I have sent SMS to Attahiru Jega about the affairs of the state and also ask him while we don't have the result sheet in the polling booths, am yet to get a reply from him. I can't vote if the result sheet is not made available. The PDP has planned to write the election, which is not acceptable, Jonathan is trying to force himself into power, he should let people choose him if they want him, not force himself into power, Rotimi said.
When asked if the INEC building is on fire, the governor replied that he is yet to hear anything of such. He said maybe a local government INEC building and not the state building because he is yet to get an update.
When he was ased why he is not monitoring the election, Governor Amaechi said that the Brigadier general and the police might shoot him as they think he is causing trouble, so am careful. I am inside the governor house.
When the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Muhammadu Jega was asked about the incident in Rivers state, he claimed that he got a report of the election violence from electorates and also election observers. He will look into this issue if the election results in this area will be cancelled or not.
Abuja: As election goes on in Nigeria, a group of hackers who called themselves, Nigerian Cyber Army just hacked the official website of the Independent Electoral commission(INEC). The group hacked the website few minutes ago with the words :
Its 2015 Elections And We Are Here AGain But This Time In A Different Form, APC Claimed They Hacked Into INEC DATABASE But We Own The DATABASE Long Before Now So No Worries No Fear To All NIGERIANs...GO And Cast Your Vote And We Assure You That Your Vote Must Count Because We Are The Kings Of The NIgerRian CYber SPACE.
No statement is yet to be released by INEC. The website is not connected to the PVC card reader, so we hope it will not be security for the electora processes. The group claimed it is having some databases of other high government website but won't deal with them yet, they are only appearing today for INEC website only.
Update : 12:32pm : INEC updated their website that they are working on bringing it back
Nigeria: As Nigerians go out to vote for their presidential candidates today, the National Electoral commission (INEC) has put out a video for electorates to follow the normal and right election processes. Also a video to show how voters can vote and do their accreditation is posted alongside the voters education.
VOTING
• Voting will take place on a date to be determined by the INEC.
ACCREDITATION
• Polling units will be open from 8 am.
• Polling units will open at 8 am for Accreditation and close at 1.00pm
• Voting starts 1:30 pm.
• You must vote in the same Polling Unit you completed your Voter Registration.
THE VOTER- WHO IS HE/SHE?
• S/He is a Nigerian citizen.
• S/He is 18 years and above.
• S/He has registered in the constituency where he intends to vote.
• S/He possesses a registration card obtained during voters’ registration.
HOW VOTER CAN VERIFY REGISTRATION
• A voter is expected to check the register of voters to ascertain that his name is included.
• That his name was correctly spelt and written.
• This is done when the register is displayed for inspection.
PERSONS WHO CANNOT VOTE
• The following persons cannot vote at election.
• All persons below the age of 18 years.
• All non-Nigerians.
• All persons who did not register as voters.
• All persons who do not hold a voter registration card.
• All persons whose names are not in the voters register.
WHERE TO VOTE
• Voting takes place at polling stations/units.
• A voter is expected to cast his vote at the polling unit where his name is on the voter register.
• A voter is expected to identfy his polling station where his name is on the voter register.
• A polling unit nearest to the residence of the voter.
HOW TO VOTE:
• Voting will be by Open Secret Ballot System.
• Your vote is secret because no one will see which candidate you choose.
• You will mark your ballot behind a polling screen secretly.
• Apply your finger print only in one circle/space which corresponds to the candidate of your choice.
PROCEDURE: PREPARING FOR VOTING:
• The Presiding Officer (PO) shall:
• Explain the voting procedure to the voters.
• Invite all voters accreditated to form a single queue.
• Where culture does not allow men and women to mingle in a queue, separate queues are created for men and women.
• The PO shall count loudly the number of accredited voters in the queue, and record the number.
COMMENCEMENT OF VOTING:
• At the commencement of voting, the PO shall:
• Invite the voters on queue to approach the poll clerk (PC) in an orderly manner.
• On presentation of voter’s card, the PC shall:
• Check appropriate cuticle thumbnail of voter and when he is satisfied that the person has been duly accredited.
• Tick the voters’ register on the right hand side of voter’s name.
• Indicating that he has voted.
• Apply indelible ink on the cuticle of the voter’s appropriate thumbnail.
• The Poll Assistant (PA) shall apply ink to the next finger of the respective hand
• Voters who have no Right/Left hand, the PA shall:
• Apply the ink to the corresponding toes of the voter’s Right/Left foot.
• Voters have neither fingers nor toes:
• Ink shall be applied on the corresponding toes of the persons assisting them.
ISSUANCE OF BALLOT PAPER AND VOTING:
• The voter shall present himself to the Polling official (PO).
• The PO shall stamp and sign the back of ballot paper.
• Fold the ballot paper vertically with the printed side inwards.
• Issue the signed, stamped ballot paper to the voter.
• The voter moves to the voting cuticle.
• Mark the ballot paper in the space provided beside the party logo of the voters’ choice
• Fold the ballot paper.
• Deposit the marked ballot paper into the ballot box.
• Marking of ballot paper by voter must be done in secret.
• Depositing the ballot paper in the ballot box in open view of all persons present.
• Only one voter at a time to the voting cubicle.
OFFENCES ON ELECTION DAY:
PART VIII SC. 129 (1) states that:
1. No person shall on the date an election is held do any of the following acts or things in a polling unit or within a distance of 300 metres of a polling unit-
(a) Canvass for votes;
(b) Solicit for the vote of any voter
(c) Persuade any voter not to vote for any particular candidate;
(d) Persuade any voter not to vote at any election;
(e) Shout slogans concerning the election;
(f) Be in possession of any offensive weapon or wear any dress or have any facial or other decoration which in any event is calculated to intimidate voters;
(g) Exhibit, wear or tender any notice, symbol photograph or party card referring to the election;
(h) Use any vehicle bearing the colour or symbol of a political party by any means whatever;
(i) Loiter without lawful excuse after voting or after being refused to vote;
(j) Snatch or destroy any election materials; and
(k) Blare siren
“Any person who contravens any of the provisions of this section commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for 6 months for every such offence”.
