Logistic materials were destroyed as fire engulfed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Ibadan South East Local Government, Oyo State, around 10:30 am on Friday, January 26, 2024. The state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Adeniran Tella, confirmed the incident, attributing the cause of the fire to a presumed power surge. Fortunately, no lives were lost, with only logistic materials being consumed by the fire. Tella assured that the incident would not affect the Saki West State Constituency re-run election scheduled for February 3.
Meanwhile, former INEC Chairman Prof. Attahiru Jega emphasized the need for the electoral commission to provide an explanation regarding the failure of the Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and the Bimodal Voter Registration Systems (BVAS) during the 2023 general elections. Speaking on Channels Television, Jega blamed desperate politicians for allegedly infiltrating the technological systems introduced by INEC for accreditation and electronic vote transmission. He highlighted the challenges faced during the 2023 polls, where opposition parties complained bitterly about the inability to upload election results electronically to the IReV, as stipulated by Section 60 of the Electoral Act 2022. The parties kicked against the manual collation of results and the announcement of winners in the polls.
The electoral body acknowledged that certain glitches made real-time transmission of results impossible and promised to fix the situation. However, opposition parties approached the courts and challenged the victory of Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who was declared the winner of the presidential election. Tinubu later won at the tribunal and the Supreme Court. Jega expressed his belief that despite INEC’s good intentions, some politicians circumvented the IReV and BVAS systems. He called for a thorough public inquiry into the IReV failure, stating that INEC would bear the blame. Once the court cases are resolved, Jega stressed the importance of investigating what happened with the IReV.
