The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed fears of manipulating the 2023 general election results.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner in charge of Edo, Mr Obo Efanga, said this when he played host to Edo Media Executives on Wednesday in Benin.
Efanga noted that the new electoral law had addressed virtually all grey areas that could facilitate the rigging of elections.
He allayed the fears of possible hacking of the INEC server.
“Only form EC8A containing election results will be screenshot and uploaded to the server.\
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“The original form will be in the custody of INEC officials and relevant stakeholders,” the REC said.
According to him, politicians cloning PVCs will not be able to use them.
INEC will use a Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine to capture fingerprints and faces of voters for accreditation.
“Obviously, there will be no room for incidence forms for manual accreditation,” he said.
Efanga explained that the BVAS machine would not require a network to function.
He added that INEC had configured it with biometrics of all registered voters in every polling unit.
“Let me also explain that the BVAS battery will last longer than the period of voting if fully charged.”
He advised politicians to concentrate on how to convince the electorate to vote for them rather than dissipate their energies on manipulations of elections.
He expressed the commission’s readiness to work with the media, especially heads of media organisations at this time of fake news.
The REC lamented the high level of unverified and misleading information on social media.
He advised journalists in mainstream media to always verify the information before going to press in order not to misinform the public.
He also advised media practitioners to be well-informed and versed with the provisions of the electoral law and the INEC guidelines to be able to discharge their duties effectively.
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