National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Rauf Aregbesola, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publicly demonstrate and standardise all the technology it plans to deploy in future elections, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), to restore public confidence in the electoral process.
Speaking during a session on Innovation in Electoral Technology, Aregbesola said it was unacceptable for INEC to deploy technology on election day without prior demonstration to Nigerians.
“INEC must do a public presentation of the technology it wants to use,” Aregbesola said. “Let Nigerians have an idea of what is being deployed. Don’t tell us you are using BVAS or IReV only for us to wake up on election day and find that everything has changed. The 2022 Electoral Act compels INEC to demonstrate to Nigerians how it intends to conduct elections.”
He argued that transparency and consistency in electoral technology would prevent confusion, manipulation, and loss of trust in the system.
“We would be grandstanding in deceit if we keep pretending that technology is as good as the person behind it,” Aregbesola stated. “Artificial Intelligence, as powerful as it is, is only as good as the person manipulating the process. That was why Stalin cynically said that voters do not matter as much as the man who announces the result of the election — and we have seen this play out clearly.”
The former interior minister also questioned why Nigeria has yet to adopt real-time result display systems successfully used in other democracies.
“How come that in India, Brazil, and Venezuela, as people vote, the tally is being done and shown to everyone?” he asked. “We have committed so much to electoral technology that this should be possible. Let’s demand simultaneous display of results as they are being recorded. The paperwork should only serve as backup for the political parties.”
Aregbesola further criticised the limited access granted to party agents and election observers, calling for closer involvement in the accreditation and voting processes to guarantee credibility.
“Agents of parties should closely monitor the accreditation process. They must not be kept at a distance on election day,” he said. “It is crucial to confirm that the person holding the voter card is indeed the rightful owner.”
On voter registration, he urged INEC to integrate its database with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to eliminate multiple and fraudulent entries.
“Let us compel INEC to link voter registration with NIMC,” Aregbesola said. “That will eliminate bloated registers and multiple registrations. How do we have 93 million registered voters but only 23 million turn out to vote? We need a credible voter register that truly reflects our voting population.”
He added that electoral credibility begins with the integrity of those who oversee the process, not merely with the adoption of technology.
“We must start from how we appoint people to superintend the process,” Aregbesola said. “Parties with at least five members in the National Assembly should nominate those who will manage INEC on an equal basis. That way, no single political actor can dominate the system. If the principal beneficiary of manipulation nominates who chairs INEC, the outcome is already predetermined.”
Acknowledging that such reforms might require constitutional amendments, he said political will was the only obstacle to achieving them.
“I know it will take even a constitutional amendment to have parties nominate INEC managers,” he admitted. “It may not be easy, but it can be done if we are serious.”
Aregbesola concluded that credible elections depend on trust, transparency, and inclusion — not just technology.
“To have a credible election, to have democracy, you need democrats,” he said. “And to have democrats, there must be trust and confidence in the process. I rest my case,”he said.
Boluwatife Enome
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