Senate Clarifies IReV Solely For Outcomes Transmission, Not Digital Voting
Senate has clarified that the digital transmission of election ends in real-time doesn’t translate into e-voting, as being peddled in some quarters. It acknowledged that Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) lacked the capability to conduct e-voting at current.
The higher chamber additional clarified that INEC Consequence Viewing Portal (IReV) “will not be an e-voting platform, however a platform the place the election outcomes which have been manually counted and declared on the polling items are uploaded and publicised”.
Chairman, Senate Advert-hoc Panel to Evaluation the 2026 Electoral Invoice, Senator Adeniyi Adegbonmire, made the clarifications on Come up Information Channel on Thursday.
Adegbonmire defined the distinction between digital transmission of election ends in real-time and e-voting system.
The senate had constituted the adhoc panel to assessment the report of its Committee on Electoral Issues, harmonise divergent views, and handle gray areas recognized in the course of the train.
It additionally appointed Adegbonmire to steer the seven-man panel.
Talking on the senate choice, Adegbonmire defined that Nigeria had not transitioned to an e-voting system, opposite to insinuations in some quarters.
He mentioned, “Individuals want to know what real-time means. Actual-time transmission can solely occur if INEC adopts an e-voting system.
“For now, INEC doesn’t have the aptitude for e-voting. Perhaps in two or three years, we are able to undertake e-voting. However as of in the present day, INEC has not put an e-voting system in place.
“That is the misunderstanding that the media has introduced into play. The availability you retain emphasising says the presiding officer will first fill the outcome manually in Kind EC8A.
“It’s the Kind EC8A that has been crammed manually and will probably be transmitted to IReV. If we modify ‘transmit’ to ‘add’ within the Electoral Invoice, 2026, will it change something? The reply isn’t any.”
Adegbonmire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Authorized Issues, additional defined that false impression about IReV ought to be corrected contemplating its implications for the nation’s peaceable co-existence.
The lawmaker identified that IReV “will not be a voting platform. Somewhat, it’s a platform meant to publicise election outcomes already declared by the presiding officers at polling items throughout the federation”.
He acknowledged, “It is vital, initially, to know what IReV does as a result of there may be plenty of false impression about it or deliberate misrepresentation of what it stands for. The Senate by no means mentioned INEC mustn’t use IReV for the 2027 elections. So, what’s IReV? It’s software program developed by INEC to publicise outcomes by INEC.
“IReV will not be an e-voting platform as some individuals suppose. That is the misinformation some persons are peddling. They maintain saying after I wish to see my vote. However in actuality, IReV is a platform meant to publicise election outcomes already declared on the polling items.
“This isn’t an emotional argument. I heard individuals say the model of the Home of Representatives ought to be adopted. It’s a sheer false impression. What does the model say?
“It merely says the presiding officer shall electronically transmit the outcome from every polling unit to the IReV portal in actual time and such transmission shall be carried out after Kind EC8A has been signed by the presiding officer and countersigned by the candidate or polling agent on the polling unit.”
Some civil society organisations (CSOs) expressed concern over Senate’s revised Part 60(3) of the Electoral Invoice, warning that new situations hooked up to the digital transmission of election outcomes can undermine electoral integrity.
In a joint assertion in Abuja, the CSOs, together with Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), The Kukah Centre, Worldwide Press Centre (IPC), Elect Her, Nigerian Girls Belief Fund, TAF Africa, and Yiaga Africa, welcomed Senate’s choice to reverse its earlier place.
They nonetheless, described sure insertions within the invoice as problematic.
The CSOs mentioned the conditional language — “offered if it fails and it turns into not possible to transmit” — launched ambiguity and harmful discretion into the outcomes administration course of.
In response to them, the invoice doesn’t clearly outline what constitutes a failure, how such failure ought to be documented, or what verification mechanisms ought to apply, thereby creating a possible loophole that might weaken transparency safeguards.
Chuks Okocha
Times Nigeria