Against the background of complaints about the slow response rate of its result viewing portal, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has assured Nigerians that the development was not due to an intrusion of its systems by external forces, assuring that all results, including those not yet uploaded to the portal, remained safe on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.

INEC said the results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“The Commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady.

“The Commission regrets this setback, especially because of the importance of IReV in our results management process,” INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said on Sunday.

According to him, the problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season, state elections to one for managing nationwide general elections.

He said it is indeed not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations.

“Consequently, the Commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured.

“Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.

“We also wish to assure Nigerians that results from the polling units, copies of which were issued to political parties, are safe on both the BVAS and the IReV portal.

“These results cannot be tampered with and any discrepancy between them and the physical results used in collation will be thoroughly investigated and remediated, in line with Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022.

“While we fully appreciate the concerns of the public on this situation and welcome various suggestions that we have received from concerned Nigerians, it is important to avoid statements and actions that can heat up the polity at this time or promote disaffection towards the Commission.

“We take full responsibility for the problems and regret the distress that they have caused the candidates, political parties and the electorate,” he added.

Police command in Lagos State says 23 persons suspected to be involved in electoral violence and other crimes were arrested during the presidential and national assembly elections on Saturday in Lagos.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the arrest to newsmen on Sunday.

Hundeyin noted that the figure of arrest might increase as the command was still collating the number of suspects arrested in different divisions during the Saturday exercise.

“Collation of suspects arrested ongoing. 23 suspects at last count,” he said.

NAN reports that hoodlums and unknown gunmen allegedly attacked some polling units and disrupted the elections in Mafoluku area and burnt ballot papers thumb printed.

The Commissioner of Police in Lagos, CP Idowu Owohunwa, told newsmen on Saturday that there were pocket of violence in some parts of the state.

Owohunwa said that some persons were arrested, noting that number of people arrested would be made known to the public.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has threatened to cancel election results of crises ridden areas during the presidential and NASS election in Kogi.

Dr Hale Longpet, Kogi Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), sounded the warning while reacting to the crises that erupted in some Local Government Areas while speaking with newsmen in Lokoja.

There were reports of thugs interfering with some polling units in Anyigba and Dekina in the Kogi East and Mopa in the Kogi West as well as parts of Kogi Central, where voting materials were allegedly carted away by thugs.

“You know the electoral Law says that where there are disruption to the process, the result will be cancelled, the very particular units’ results will be cancelled.

“The issues, initially were only in the Kogi East and Central but I can’t tell exactly where and where in the state have been affected until the results are brought by the electoral officers.

“We understood that because of the violence those affected areas couldn’t conclude election there.

“I’m shocked that people can go to that level and disrupt something that everybody should have enjoyed.

“Election is a peaceful and willful thing that people are offered to freely participate.

“Again, If people are given assurance that everyone will enjoy a pleasant experience, why then should we have thugs invading the whole town or the local government, disrupting the conduct of the elections?” he asked.

According to him, his is very sad and shocking, when you look at the loss of lives involved.

He explained that “election is not war,” so If you were standing in for election to provide services for your people, you don’t need to engage in these destructive activities.

He said anyone feels he does not want to be part of the elections, he or she does not have to go out there to vote.

According to him, people who have interest to bring good things to their communities do go out to positively engage and vote or exercise their franchise and they should not be stopped or denied the opportunity.

He disclosed that he went out with heads of the security operatives in the state in a motorcade to monitor the elections starting from Adankolo to Crucial, through to Kabawa and Falele.

He said, “yet in all these places, we didn’t see anyone angry but people were all smiling and casting their votes peacefully”.

The REC expressed happiness that everywhere inside Lokoja was very peaceful, not even a voice was raised.

The Labour Party candidate for House of Representatives, Kaura Federal Constituency, Kaduna state, Mathew Kozali, has defeated the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives, Gideon Lucas Gwani of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Koazali polled 10,508 voted ahead of Gwani, who polled 10,297 votes.

Gwani was seeking to occupy the seat for the fifth time.

The Returning Officer, Professor Elija D. Ella, declared that Kuzai as the winner, while Professor Benjamin Kumai Gugong of APC came third with 9, 919 votes.

The independent National Electoral Commission office in Takai Local Government Area of Kano State has reportedly been gutted by fire.

It was gathered that the incident happened at around 09:30 am on Sunday when some unidentified persons started beating people which forced election observers, journalists and INEC officials to scamper for safety and hide in the ceiling but the thugs set the office on fire.

One of the victims and a journalist from the area, Sale Nasko, said the suspects were believed to be followers of one of the political parties.

The victim who is currently hospitalised with various degrees of injuries said the suspected attackers namely Garba Gambo, Shehu Na-marka, and Abdullahi Dan-jalingo were arrested and an unidentified one was at large.

The attack comes as the collation officer of the local government was waiting for the arrival of the last two wards (Takai and Kachako) before announcing the official results of yesterday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections.

He said they were rescued by men of the military.

“We have learned that the attack doesn’t affect the election results,” said the victim.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in Kano, SP Abdullahi Haruna confirmed the incident.

He said the fire was set up at the generator house behind the office building but it was put off immediately.

“It was from the generator house that they put out the fire. It was hurriedly brought under control and security operatives have been intensified in the area,” he said.