The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained the reason behind its decision to declare Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the 2023 presidential election at 2 am.
INEC announced Tinubu’s victory, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC), with 8,794,726 votes, surpassing his rivals, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).
The announcement, made on March 1 by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, drew concerns from some Nigerians who questioned the timing of the declaration.
Responding to these concerns, INEC Chief Press Secretary Rotimi Oyekanmi stated that there is no specific time prescribed by the constitution or Electoral Act for announcing election results.
Oyekanmi stated, “In a presidential election, the country is treated as one constituency. Results are declared at polling units, then collated at the ward, local government, and state levels before being presented in Abuja to the Chief Electoral Commissioner,” he said. People didn’t understand this and criticised the 2 am announcement.
“The chairman had to wait for the 36 returning officers, including those from distant locations, to present their results. The electoral act requires that results be brought and the returning officers be interviewed. The chairman questions the returning officers. Only after accepting all figures from the returning officers and the FCT can results be collated and announced. The delay led to claims that we declared results in the middle of the night.
“However, Prof. Attahiru Jega declared the 2015 results around 4 am. The constitution does not prescribe a specific time for declaring election results,” he added.
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