The Independent National Election Commission or INEC has not yet uploaded the results of the over 28,000 polling places in Nigeria where the presidential election was held.
Bola Tinubu, a candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC), was proclaimed the victor by INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu in the early hours of Wednesday.
Of the 774 local government areas in the nation, there are 176,846 polling places, but only 15% of them have results that are known.
Five days after the general election, on March 2, at 11:00 am, 148,741 units of results had been submitted, representing a shortfall of more than 20,000.
The electoral authority claimed that the total votes cast by the remaining candidates did not equal the number of votes that separated Tinubu from first runner-up Atiku Abubakar.
Yet, some question why locations with allegedly low voter turnout rates aren’t being transmitted with the results sooner when they ought to be among the first.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) malfunctioned during the elections, there was excessive voting, and thugs attacked polling places, officials, and voters, drawing condemnation for INEC.
The joint mission of the International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI) released a dismal preliminary statement.
The observers stated that INEC’s “inadequate communication and lack of transparency,” “caused confusion and damaged voters’ faith” on Monday in Abuja.
Joyce Banda, the head of government and former president of Malawi, claimed that the result of these issues together disenfranchised Nigerian voters in many regions.
Yet, the IRI/NDI team praised voters for their commitment in the face of big crowds and protracted lines at polling places.
It is odd that neither the missions of the Commonwealth nor the Economic Community of West African States, nor ECOWAS, explicitly criticized INEC or made a statement regarding the anomalies.
The Commonwealth Observation Group concentrated more on a peaceful post-election period and public participation in the process during a press briefing.
Chairman and former South Africa President, Thabo Mbeki counseled calmly and advised candidates with issues “to handle disagreements through proper legal means”.
