Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed confidence in the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) functionality ahead of the Edo State Governorship election.
The election umpire said it has learnt from its previous challenges following glitches in the last general election, which caused a series of speculations and backlash.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Chairman of the INEC, Rotimi Oyekanmi said during an interview with Channel’s Politics Today, that the commission has gained valuable insights from previous experiences, maintaining its readiness for the upcoming governorship election.
Oyekanmi also confirmed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines are fully prepared for the election.
When asked what the commission was doing to ensure seamless operation during the election, Oyekanmi said, “Technology is good; we have no doubt about it. It has helped the work of INEC, but I always say that technology is not a silver bullet; it does not solve all problems.
“Take the pictures all around the world, whether on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram. They have what they call downtime. It is a hard situation where you can’t access Facebook for 24 hours. And these are global tech companies that have what it takes not to even have glitches.
“Your phone sometimes may misbehave; That is the way it’s. Nobody plans for failure. Even the South Africa you referred to initially had a glitch before they were able to correct it. But people don’t report that. They just talk about what they are doing.”
Speaking about the issues encountered in earlier elections, Oyekanmi said: “We had a glitch, but it was corrected. Those results are on IREV as we speak. The presidential election results are there for those who want to see.
“We are ready for the Edo election. We have learnt our lessons. This is the third governorship election we are conducting in Edo. This commissioner had the privilege to conduct the first one in 2016, and came out well. The second one, 2020 came out well and now we are going for the third one.”