By Lateef Dada, Femi Folaranmi, Bere Gyang, Olanrewaju Lawal, Aloysius Attah and Paul Orude
How was the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in last Saturday’s presidential election? That was the question posed by Saturday Sun. Nigerians reacted in different ways.
INEC failed Nigerians completely – Ajang Daniel, social activist, Jos,
As a person, I am not pleased with the manner in which the election was conducted. INEC told the world that they were ready for this election and President Muhammadu Buhari provided all that is needed for the polls, but INEC failed Nigerians through the provision of malfunctioning BVAS. And the claim by INEC that it was after the collation of results that it posted the results on the server is something that is unacceptable. As an observer, I left Jos North down to Shendam, ad-hoc staff were on ground, no mobility to convey them to their places of primary assignment. There were other numerous challenges that marred the election. I can tell you confidently that INEC did not perform up to the expectations. They failed Nigerians completely.
INEC performed below Nigerians’ expectations – Douglas Francis, journalist, Jos
The performance of INEC in the presidential election was below the expectations of Nigerians because at the build up to the election, INEC told Nigerians that they were ready for the election and that they have trained their personnel and the electoral materials are ready. INEC also told Nigerians that they will use BVAS for accreditation and transmission of result from the polling units. But on the day of the election, there was late arrival of election materials and malfunctioning of the BVAS. They also failed to upload the results on their server as promised Nigerians. Therefore INEC performed below average in the last election.
INEC did a difficult task – Prof Olu Aina, ex-Registrar, National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB), Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State
INEC did a very difficult task. As an academician that has conducted examinations across the entire nation, I know how difficult it is to ensure that exams take place at the right time and date intended. The job that INEC faced is bigger than conducting examinations. So, INEC did excellently well in the circumstances they found themselves.
INEC didn’t succumb to threats from politicians – Chief Abiola Ogundokun, businessman, Osogbo, Osun State
“Those of us that know the antics of politicians will commend INEC for the maturity with which they handled this year’s election and not succumbing to the threats and stunts of politicians. The results declared showed that INEC is not biased, at least for daring to declare the opposition winner of the president’s state and presidential candidate’s state while the other candidates won their respective states.
INEC did well but there were lapses – Muhammad Lawal, civil servant, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State
INEC has performed well, except that there were few lapses in different places across Nigeria. If not because of tha,t the election would have been considered most credible, free, fair and the best ever in Nigeria. Some of lapses include late arrival of election materials, malfunctioning of BIVAS, inducement of voters in different forms as well as violence as evident in different polling units. I would also commend INEC for introducing new innovation in the nation’s election process and I am urging the commission to sustain the tempo to take Nigeria to next level of development where the electorate would have total confidence on the electoral body”, he said.
There was little improvement from the past – Sanusi Ibrahim, businessman, Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State
The performance by INEC had improved a little bit apart from the late arrival of the election materials. The BVAS machines were used to accredit people and nobody could impersonate anybody. I think they have done well but the late arrival of electoral materials frustrated many people in Kebbi State. That is my view.
Failure to deploy BVAS damaged INEC’s integrity – Timothy Egbonoje, civil engineer, Yenagoa
The poor performance of INEC when it comes to collating election results is a perennial saga. The discrepancies between exit polls and actual election results over the years made calls for reforms strident over the years in this political dispensation. These calls for reforms have in turn birthed new buzzwords or concepts. INEC server, card reader, BVAS etc etc. All these concepts have worked elsewhere except in Nigeria. For INEC to have appropriated a budget in excess of 400 billion Naira to put in place a system where election results will be transmitted electronically real time to its servers so that we all can tab the results as they come, and then jettison the use of this system for spurious reasons is suspect. In this 2023 election cycle, the failure to deploy BVAS in upload of results has irreparably damaged the integrity of INEC.
INEC has disappointed Nigerians – Denzil Kentebe, architect, Yenagoa
I think INEC has disappointed Nigerians, because this is one election in Nigeria that the INEC Chairman and President Buhari had promised the world and Nigerians that would be free, fair and credible. What happened on Saturday is the worst election I have witnessed in my life. It is so sad considering the amount of money spent in the build-up. Most people were disenfranchised and to make it worse there was a semblance of hacking into the system. There are insinuations that some people brought parallel equipment into the country. Why should the government allow that and who has the kind of money to buy such equipment? There are a lot of questions for INEC to answer.
INEC disappointed Nigerians –Endy Nze, musician, Onitsha
All hopes were raised prelude to the election based on the assurances given by INEC for free, fair and credible elections during the 2023 general election. But we seem to have been scammed by the electoral umpire because all their promises, they failed to fulfil. It still baffles that despite the hues and cries of Nigerians that the results being announced by INEC in most states didn’t reflect the voting pattern of the Nigerian electorates, they still went ahead to announce the results. This is a serious let down on the growth of democracy in Nigeria because all our supposed gains in the past in our electoral process have not only gone down the drain but got worsened. There is God in heaven anyway who oversees the affairs of man and I believe he will intervene in Nigerians and save us from this mess.
I give INEC 80 per cent – Aliyu Suleiman, office worker
I will rate INEC high, may be 80.per cant in the recently concluded election. INEC tried their best. The election was monitored and the whole world saw what happened. Sow what happened before everybody’s eye then it is transparent. They other parties have agents and l believe they all saw what happened. So for me INEC has tried.
I rate INEC performance low – Saliyu Mohammed, Student
I rate them low because the performance of INEC was not good at all because the election was not free and fair I won’t say because the candidate I supported didn’t win but normally they didn’t follow the process of the election.
The election was a bad experience for me because in my polling unit the election was disrupted. Everything was scattered. Some people came and disrupted the process of the election and made us feel we are nothing.