By Abiola Olawale
Former Bayelsa State governor and incumbent Senator representing Bayelsa Senatorial West of Bayelsa State at the Senate, Senator Seriake Dickson, has disclosed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) explicitly assured the Senate of its full technical capacity to transmit election results electronically.
According to Senator Dickson, during the legislative engagements surrounding electoral reforms, INEC officials provided assurances that the infrastructure required for the electronic transmission of results (ETR) was already within their capabilities.
Dickson made this known on a post on his Facebook page, where he expressed disappointment that the Senate refused to pass a clause on mandatory electronic transmission of election results, a measure he and other lawmakers had worked on for over two years. He praised the House of Representatives for approving the measure as agreed.
“Today, I gave an interview at ARISE Television. In the interview, I explained how, as a member of the Electoral Committee, I felt deeply disappointed when, while I was in Bayelsa mourning the demise of my brother, the Deputy Governor, I heard that the Senate refused to pass the clause on mandatory electronic transmission of election results from polling stations. This was what we had been working on for the past two years, and the House of Representatives passed exactly what we agreed on. I thank the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, the Chairman of the House Committee, and other members of the House for doing the right thing,” Dickson wrote.
Dickson, who attended his first Senate session of the year on Tuesday following his mourning period, said he confronted Senate leaders over the issue. He noted that the Senate later moved a motion for rescission, sponsored by the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno, but it included a proviso validating results in areas affected by network failures.
“Let me be clear: INEC had told us that they have the capacity to transmit election results nationwide, and we believe them. However, in parliament, you don’t get all you want at the time you want. The parliamentary system involves lobbying, negotiations, consensus-building, and making incremental progress. What happened today was not a loss to democracy; it was incremental progress,” he added.
The senator explained that INEC’s Results Viewing (IReV) portal, introduced to complement card readers and BVAS, allows the public to monitor voting in real-time at polling units. He clarified that IReV does not collate final results or declare winners, but provides transparency and accountability at the grassroots level.
“IREV was introduced to give Nigerians and the general public access to a transparent INEC portal, providing an indication of votes from the primary voting centres, that is, polling stations. It does not collate election results, nor is it proof of any election win, but it shows results in real-time, and we still have that even in the version passed by the Senate,” Dickson said.
He also stressed that once results are declared at polling units, INEC will issue guidelines requiring presiding officers to electronically transmit copies to IReV, enabling real-time monitoring from polling units up to collation centres.
Dickson warned that electoral manipulation occurs mainly at collation centres, not polling stations.
“The introduction of IREV, and the National Assembly’s passage of mandatory electronic transmission of polling unit results to IREV, has addressed the problem of manipulation at collation centres. Candidates and parties who do well at polling stations, which are the primary evidence of elections, can collate results and know who has won, thereby cutting off the brigandage, executive interference, and thuggery that mar our elections at collation centres,” he said.
