🗳️ Electoral Integrity at Risk: Samson Itodo Breaks Down Flaws in the Electoral Act 2026 on Channels TV
Speaking live on Channels TV, Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa and prominent good governance advocate, unveiled critical findings from their latest policy brief, "Securing the Vote." Analyzing the Electoral Act 2026 against recent off-cycle election data (including the Ekiti State governorship election), Itodo warned that while electronic transmission to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal is now legally mandatory, key loopholes—specifically Section 60(3)—leave the election management process vulnerable to manual manipulation.
Deep-Dive Analysis
1. The Tripartite Result Framework & Hidden Backend Validation
The Three Pathways of Polling Unit Results
According to Yiaga Africa's report, a single polling unit now generates election figures across three distinct tracks:
- Physical Form EC8A: The original hard-copy paper sheet filled out, signed by presiding officers, and endorsed by political party agents.
- Electronic Form EC8A: A direct digital data entry typed into the BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) device by the presiding officer.
- Scanned Image (IReV Upload): A photographic snapshot of the physical EC8A sheet taken by the BVAS device and uploaded for public viewing.
Polling Unit Conclusion: Three-Layer Verification
| Form Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Physical Form EC8A | Paper Hard-Copy — signed by party agents and INEC officials at the polling unit, serving as the legal original record. |
| Electronic Form EC8A | Typed into BVAS — the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System captures results digitally at the polling unit level. |
| Scanned IReV Image | Photo Uploaded to Portal — the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal displays scanned copies for public transparency. |
The Problem of Opaque Backend Validation
Itodo highlighted that polling unit results do not stream into the IReV portal in real-time. Instead, INEC conducts a hidden backend validation process, causing results to hit the portal in sudden, massive batches.
"Results from polling units are not transmitted automatically to the IReV. They go through a validation process before publication. Between 6:32 PM and 6:37 PM during the Ekiti election, over 1,100 results hit the portal in just 5 minutes. When a process is opaque and not visible to the public, it creates room for suspicion." — Samson Itodo
2. Legal Ambiguity & The Dangerous Primacy of Physical Forms
The Flaw in Section 60(3)
The most concerning provision of the Electoral Act 2026 is the proviso attached to Section 60(3), which explicitly grants legal primacy to the physical paper EC8A over electronic records during collation and final result declaration.
Why Lawmakers Kept Paper Primacy
Itodo argued that the National Assembly intentionally inserted this proviso to preserve traditional points of leverage for election riggers. If a physical EC8A sheet is mutilated, falsified, or forged at the polling unit or during transit, collation officers are legally required to accept the compromised hard copy—even if the electronically transmitted image on IReV proves otherwise.
"The National Assembly didn't need to place that primacy on the physical EC8A. Politicians put it there deliberately because they know that part of the tactics in the playbook of election rigging is to compromise officials to alter figures on the physical sheet. By conferring legal primacy on the paper form, you are declaring a false result." — Samson Itodo
Institutional Deficits and Recommendations
To restore public trust heading into upcoming election cycles, Yiaga Africa recommends:
- INEC Regulatory Protocols: Clear administrative definitions explaining what constitutes a "communication failure" and how discrepancies between the three result formats are legally resolved.
- Full Collation Visibility: Mandating the upload of Form EC8B (Ward level) and Form EC8C (LGA level) collation sheets to IReV, not just polling unit forms.
- Dedicated Results Training: Replacing overnight crash courses for election workers with a specialized Results Management Manual and long-term training.
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