The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakuku has said that the collation of results will be suspended till 6 pm.
Yakubu made this disclosure when he briefed the media, election observers and the general public in a remark at the venue of the National Collation Centre in International Conference Centre Abuja, stating that everything that pertains to announcement of results will be done in the open.
He stated, ”There is no any other room that collation will take place apart from the one he currently chair which supersedes every other Centre leading to the declaration of election results. He reiterated that a media centre has been provided for behind the ICC where all issues relating to media will be taken care of.
”When the scope arrive they will sit in he open so there’ll be seats at the end of the hall to my right you will see black leather chairs. That is the holding area for the State Coalition officers for the presidential election. And then by the side to my right, you will see a table there that is the coalition Secretariat. And the coalition secretariat is directly under my supervision so everything that we are going to do here will be done in the open. There is no other room where any other procedure is falling outside this hall. Yes we have our situation. But that is just the Situation Room for the coalition.
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”But once coalition starts, everything begins and ends in this hall and in the other coalition as the coalition of results progresses, the Commission may find it necessary to brief the nation on matters related to the election, but unrelated to the collation of results. When the need for such briefing arises. It will not be done here. In the coalition center. A Media Center has been prepared in Soho right behind this building. But within the premises this premises for such briefings as a whole has actually been preferred as our media center so when we need to make briefings unrelated to the collection of results, it will be done there.
”So we maintain the sanctity of this whole essentially for the correlation of results and matters arising from the collection of results. Where I am unable to personally brief the media. The National Commissioner responsible for information and voter education sits in to my immediate left Barr. Festus Okoye will perform that responsibility. So as we await the arrival of the scopes will now take a break and resume at 6pm. We are certain that by 6pm one or two of the scopes will arrive with the results. So we begin the process of collation at 6pm.
”Coalition of presidential election results in Nigeria is done at four levels after the conclusion of voting, counting recording of results at the various polling units the results are fast, timely, and collated at the 8809 registration areas or awards. The collated ward level results are tallied and collated at the 774 local government areas nationwide
”Thereafter, they are tallied and collated in each of the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The collected figures for each state and the Federal Capital Territory and finally collated here in Abuja where the announcement of the outcome of the election will be made by the returning officer for the presidential election, who also doubles as the Chief Electoral commissioner of the Federation. And this is a duty that I’m privileged to perform and it should be done here”, he explained.
