A member of the Movement for Credible Elections, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said that Nigerians will have no choice but to take over their country if the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, does not allow people to go to polling units with devices that can make elections more transparent.
He said that telling Nigerians not to go to polling stations with technological equipment to allow them to stream live updates would mean that INEC was acting criminally.
Speaking on Arise News on Tuesday, Utomi pointed out that in the United Kingdom and the United States, people hardly have a clue who the chair of the electoral commission is, as results come from the media monitoring the elections.
Utomi insisted that there should be body cameras and live streams from every polling booth in the country during elections.
“One day I would like to see politicians go to jail for spending public money to run for office. I’m going to prosecute it in the international community someday because it’s thievery. It is criminality, but they do it.
“They think that the state coffers is just to use to campaign. So, those who don’t have as much of that loot that belongs to the people to use can be more creative in the way they prevent elections from being abused.
“Now, typically, what would happen if they have this strange phenomenon they call [party] agents? And a party that can’t have agents in one of all of the polling stations in the country is vulnerable to having results written where they are not present and stuff like that because a system doesn’t work.
“There’re plenty of things today that will make that very difficult. There’s a way that opposition can, and is currently collaborating that will ensure that people be made aware that their votes can count. If people become aware that their votes can count, and they come out and vote, it’s not a 300,000 Nigerian police force that can prevent the people’s will from taking place.
“So, getting the people to know that they can share resources, I’ve heard INEC say all kinds of things about who has authority to do what…
“Do you know who the chair of the electoral commission is in the UK? In the US, I have no clue. Results come from the media who are monitoring elections. If INEC tells us that people can’t bring things to make elections transparent, then they are criminals who want the elections not to be transparent.
“The election should be technologised; body cams, live streaming from every polling booth in the country, and if they don’t want it, let Nigerians take over their country.”
DAILY POST reports that the incumbent President, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, APC, former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, are among the contenders in the 2027 presidential election.