The collation of the results for the 2023 General Election in Nigeria began on Sunday, February 26th and has been a highly anticipated event for the Nigerian people. The election process involved various activities across the country, with some experiencing logistical challenges resulting in delays, while others ran smoothly with the early arrival of INEC officials.
However, the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) caused some difficulties in certain areas, leading to delays in the election process. In some polling units, BVAS malfunctioned, and the backup system also failed, resulting in a confrontation between INEC officials and voters.
Despite concerns about insecurity, there was a decent voter turnout. Unfortunately, there were reports of violence in some parts of Lagos, including Eti-Osa and Mafolukun Oshodi, where ballot boxes were set on fire.
Meanwhile, PDP party agent, Senator Dino Melaye, and other party agents have called for the collation to be postponed until all the results have been uploaded on IREV.
However, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu, has insisted that results are being uploaded on IREV and the presentation will continue. As a result, Dino Melaye and some of the parties that supported him stormed out of the coalition centre in an attempt to show their grievances.
The collation process has since continued at the national level, with 14 states having presented their results so far. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC Presidential candidate, is leading in six of those states with 4,105,663 votes, while Atiku Abubakar of the PDP is trailing with 3,052,625 votes, having won five states including Yobe and Osun. The Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, comes third with 1,643,069 votes.
INEC will continue the coalition by 11 am today as other states look to present their results.
