Voters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have received assurances from Prof. Joash Amupitan (SAN), the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, that the commission will broadcast all election results in real time from polling places.
In addition to stating that the commission is prepared for the FCT elections set for Saturday, February 21, 2026, he confirmed that the commission has been using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BiVAS) to send election results in real time since the technology was implemented.
Following an evaluation of the readiness of the Kuje, Gwagwalada, and Bwari Area Councils, the INEC chief provided the reassurance to reporters in Abuja.
Although he expressed confidence in the Electoral Officers’ (EO) level of readiness, he also said he has no concerns that the commission will conduct a credible and decent election.
“I have confirmed that they are accurate in the information they provided. Kuje claimed to be 99.9% prepared for the election. Gwagwalada claimed to be 90.8% prepared for the election. In Bwari, they too declared themselves completely prepared for the election.
This implies that any kind of misconduct should not be justified in any way. It’s anticipated the election would go really nicely.
And I have no doubt that by our actions rather than just our words, we will start to improve the perception of our election.
So I am really happy. The non-sensitive materials have all been batch-processed. I have also visited the stores to make sure everything is in its proper place.
Since the introduction of the BVAS, Prof. Amupitan stated that the commission has been transmitting election results in real-time.
Along with uploading and transmitting the results, BVAS is able to accredit. The outcomes will undoubtedly be communicated.
He reaffirmed that an election is considered successful if the necessary security is in place to safeguard both voters and personnel, and that INEC will not lower its standards.
Speaking to the EOs on the steps that will ensure a credible election, lower voter turnout, and rebuild Nigerians’ faith in the system, he added
Our goal is to tackle the problem of voter indifference. To fulfill Nigerians’ dreams, we aim to do everything in our power. As one of the ways we can start to restore the somewhat lacking confidence, they have the right to make requests, and we will do everything within the law to make sure we can fulfill our obligations.
“The RAC should have security personnel on Friday. In order to make it easier for you to deploy and move early on Saturday morning, at 6 or 7 a.m., to set out so that you can travel to your polling booth, materials can arrive on time, and voting should begin at 8.30, all poll officials must be present at the RAC on that Friday.
“Make sure that you start on time so that you can close your voting at 2:30 if the election is peaceful and you manage the results nicely.”
Before nightfall, you begin counting and finish. Results are announced by you. You go inside the results. The findings have also been uploaded by you.
We have to enter our results using IREV and input them in after making the necessary modifications. It is quite crucial.
The coalition officers must cross-check when you proceed to the next step, even though the gadget we are attempting to introduce now will check itself.
Cross-checking is necessary to ensure that anything you upload will at least give us credit.
Therefore, it implies that even after we leave the office, these individuals should be audited and told that they should either not appreciate what we have done or, if possible, should.
Some folks won’t like it for whatever reason.
However, even if it’s for academic purposes, they will have data to use after you leave the workplace to evaluate you.
And I ask God for our assistance,” he continued.
According to their individual reports, EO Kuje Adamu Yakubu stated that his office is 99.9 percent ready, the EO of Bwari Gloria Adeboye stated that his office is 100 percent ready, and his counterpart in Gwagwalada Bola Abdullahi stated that his office is 90.8 percent ready.
High-ranking INEC officials and commissioners, including as FCT Resident Electoral (REC) Aminu Idris, FCT Commissioner Operations Mallam Tukur Yusuf, Acting Director, Electoral Institute Prof. Sani Ibrahim, and others, accompanied the Chairman on the tour.
