Edo guber: We’ve learnt our lessons, says INEC

Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary  to the Chairman of The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has said that the commission has learnt its lessons.

Oyekanmi stated this while analyzing the commission’s preparedness on the forthcoming governorship election in Edo State during an interview on Channel’s Politics Today.

He said that Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines are ready for the election.

According to him, the commission has corrected glitches it experienced during past elections.

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When asked what the commission was doing to ensure seamless operation during the election, Oyekanmi said, “Technology is good; we have no doubt about it. It has helped the work of INEC; but I always say that technology is not a silver bullet; it does not solve all problems.

“Take the pictures all around the world whether on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram. They have what they call downtime. It is a hard situation where you can’t access Facebook for 24 hours. And these are global tech companies that have what it takes not to even have glitches.

“Your phone sometimes may misbehave; That is the way it’s. Nobody plans for failure. Even the South Africa you referred to, initially they had a glitch before they were able to correct it. But people don’t report that. They just talk about what they are doing.

“We had a glitch but it was corrected. Those results are on IREV as we speak. The presidential election results are there for those who want to see.

“We are ready for the Edo election. We have learnt our lessons. This is the third governorship election we are conducting in Edo. This commissioner has the privilege to conduct the first one in 2016 and came out well. The second one 2020 came out well and now we are going for the third one.”