Eighteen months after the 2023 presidential election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has offered clarification on the timing of the result declaration made in the early hours of March 1, 2023.
President Bola Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner with 8,794,726 votes, defeating Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Atiku Abubakar, Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi, and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Recall that the announcement, made by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu at about 2 a.m. on Wednesday, March 1, sparked concerns from some Nigerians who questioned why it was done during the early hours rather than in the daytime.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the INEC Chairman, responded to these concerns, explaining that the country is treated as a single constituency during presidential elections.
As a result, collating results from across the nation is a time-consuming process.
He emphasised that the electoral process required waiting for results from polling units, wards, local governments, and states, all of which had to be presented at the national level in Abuja.
“The Chairman had to wait for 36 returning officers, including those from far locations such as Sokoto and Maiduguri, to present their results as mandated by law,” Oyekanmi stated.
He further clarified that neither the Constitution nor the Electoral Act stipulates a specific time for announcing election results.
“In a presidential election, the country is treated as one constituency. Results are declared at polling units and then collated at the ward, local government, and state levels before being presented in Abuja to the Chief Electoral Commissioner. People didn’t understand this and criticised the 2 a.m. announcement,” he said.
Oyekanmi also highlighted that the INEC Chairman must personally interview the returning officers, questioning them and potentially sending them back if their reports are unsatisfactory.
He added: “Only after accepting all figures from the returning officers and the FCT can results be collated and announced. The delay led to claims that we declared results in the middle of the night.”
Referencing a similar occurrence in 2015, he noted: “Prof. Attahiru Jega declared the 2015 results around 4 a.m. The constitution does not prescribe a specific time for declaring election results.”