By David Lawani
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced 12th November 2021 as the day it will be presenting certificates of return to the Governor-elect, Prof. Charles Soludo, and his Deputy.

In a statement signed by Festus Okoye Esq National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee noting that the exercise is in compliance with section 76 of the Electoral Act, 2010, (as amended).

” Following the conclusion of the election and as provided for in Section 75 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), certificates of return will be presented to the Governor-elect and Deputy Governor-elect tomorrow Friday 12th November 2021 at our State office in Awka”.

The Commission said it is awaiting the reports of all officials deployed for the election for an indepth review of the processes saying that it will continue to test run the BVAS in other subsequent reruns

The statement reads: ” We will carry out an in-depth examination of the system, review reports from accredited observers and the media and respond to all identified challenges ahead of the next major Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), holding on 12th February 2021.

“We shall again test run the system in the bye-election(s) that may arise before then. The Commission remains convinced that despite some glitches experienced in the Anambra State Governorship election, the deployment of technology in elections is better than the best manual process”, it said.

“After the supplementary election in Ihiala Local Government Area on Tuesday 9th November 2021 and before the process was concluded, the Commission commenced a preliminary review of the functionality of systems, particularly the newly introduced Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

“The system performed two functions on election day. First is the accreditation of voters using both fingerprint and facial authentication. Secondly, it snaps the polling unit level result sheets and uploads them in real-time to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal. This aspect of the BVAS functionality performed optimally such that by the early hours of Sunday morning, results from 4,987 (88.5%) out of 5,634 polling units had been uploaded for public view. While still in the field, our ICT team responded to the identified glitches in the accreditation of voters and corrected them. Consequently, in the Ihiala supplementary election, there were no reported incidents of BVAS malfunction”, it noted.

The Commission thanked security agencies, election duty officials, political parties, candidates, and national peace committees for their efforts. It said the Anambra Governorship election was one of the most challenging circumstances the Commission found itself in as it was attacked from every corner by criminal elements.

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” The 2021 Anambra State Governorship election was conducted under the most challenging circumstances. Never before did the Commission have to grapple with numerous issues ahead of an off-season Governorship election, including attacks on our facilities, withdrawals of critical service providers such as the ad hoc staff and transporters on the eve of the election, and the general tension pervading the atmosphere.. Happily, the election passed off peacefully.

“The Commission expresses its gratitude to the security agencies, election duty officials, political parties and candidates, the National Peace Committee under the leadership of our former Head of State, His Excellency, General Abdulsalami Abubakar GCFR, religious and community leaders, socio-cultural associations, civil society organizations and the media for the enormous sacrifice and support in ensuring that the election was conducted and peacefully concluded.

“We look forward to the support of all Nigerians in the forthcoming elections. We will continue to work hard to protect the sanctity of the ballot and to conduct free, fair, and credible elections anywhere in Nigeria.

“We remain resolute that only the votes cast by citizens at polling units will determine the outcome of elections”, he said.