2027: Why Electronic Transmission of Election Results is Central to Restoring Electoral Trust

Oluseun Onigbinde/

After the 2023 general elections, I have struggled to find kind words for the former INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu. Let me explain why.

Ahead of the 2023 elections, I received an invitation to attend an INEC-headlined event in Washington, DC, organized by the National Endowment for Democracy. Anyone who lives around US national capital region knows it takes real effort to drive downtown—navigating traffic, finding parking, and adjusting schedules. Still, I was willing to do all that.

At the event, the INEC Chairman delivered a polished, well-presented speech filled with flowery assurances about the infallibility of the IReV platform. And to be fair, IReV had been used successfully in the Ekiti and Osun elections—shared by opposition and governing parties—which significantly boosted public trust in INEC.

Then came the presidential election—hotly contested, high-stakes, and nationally consequential. At that critical moment, the same IReV platform—into which billions of taxpayers’ naira had reportedly been sunk (estimates exceed N117billion for electoral technology, though INEC’s budgets are notoriously opaque)—failed. The system went down at the most important moment. Nigerians already harbored deep suspicions about manual result collation, and for good reason. We know collation is the weakest link in the elections.

The judiciary, increasingly trapped in technicalities, offered little reassurance. IReV was meant to be about trust. Instead, the courts later ruled that its use was not compulsory, effectively suspending public trust while simultaneously validating the waste of public resources.

So let’s return to Prof. Yakubu. What were the consequences of such a monumental failure—one that cost citizens money, time, and trust? Did he resign? Did he hold anyone accountable? No. All we got was a passive explanation about a possible “unplanned cloud configuration.” That was it. Even in controversial cases such as Rivers (presidential) and Nasarawa (gubernatorial), the Chairman had the legal authority to review results. He chose not to. He chose the path of least resistance.

Yet, despite this failure, the former Chairman was rewarded with an ambassadorial appointment, without even a cooling-off or accountability period.

I remain firmly in support of real-time transmission of election results. I know we keep reviewing electoral legislations but we will keep tweaking till we firmly build a system that protects the franchise, a fundamental pillar in a democracy. This real-time transmission should be the next step in rebuilding trust in our electoral process. Where results cannot be uploaded immediately, they should be securely sealed in the BVAS device and synchronized within a short window (maximum of 3 hours) at ward collation centers. Realistically, fewer than 1,000 ward collation centers in Nigeria lack reliable internet access. Providing Starlink connectivity at roughly N1 million per location would cost about N10 billion—a modest sum for an agency operating within a N1 trillion budget in 2026.

Beyond technology, the law must carry consequences. Election integrity begins with INEC officials at the LGA level. In 2023, some INEC officers reportedly instructed presiding officers not to upload results. What consequences did they face? Others openly participated in the mutilation of election results across the country. Again—what consequences?

Citizens are willing to accept defeat when elections are free and fair. That was evident in the 2022 Osun and Ekiti elections, which briefly restored public confidence before it was squandered. Technology alone will not fix the fundamental problem of human behavior in our elections. But using technology to open up the process, and enforcing serious consequences for those who undermine any part of the electoral process, are the only credible paths forward.

*Onigbinde is co-founder of BudgIT