Former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Festus Okoye, has said that every polling unit in Nigeria has internet access, dismissing concerns about network challenges during elections.
Okoye made the statement on Tuesday while speaking on Trust TV, amid ongoing debate over the amended Electoral Act recently passed by the National Assembly and signed by President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, INEC’s election devices are equipped with power banks and necessary accessories to ensure functionality during voting and result transmission.
“Now, when elections are over, the Presiding Officer has snapped the Form EC8A and there’s no network at that particular point, it stores the information in. The moment it comes into contact with the network, it transmits immediately.
“So, what the Presiding Officer has inputed, he cannot undo it until he gets network. No these whole issue about network, I think it’s an unnecessary debate.
“There’s no polling unit in this country where there’s no network. None. Forget about all these things about network connectivity. It’s just a lame excuse,” Okoye said.
He further noted that even before the introduction of the iReV portal, the Commission had successfully uploaded polling unit-level results in previous elections using its result viewing platform.
