By Odita Sunday
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has backed the proposed independent transmission and monitoring of polling-unit results by the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, ahead of the 2027 general elections.
HURIWA said the initiative could strengthen transparency and public confidence in the electoral process, provided it operates within the law and does not interfere with the statutory responsibilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, the rights group said Obi’s proposal to establish a system capable of receiving and monitoring results from polling units alongside INEC’s official transmission mechanism deserved serious consideration.
Onwubiko said there was nothing inherently wrong with political parties, civil society organisations, election observers and other stakeholders developing lawful systems for independently documenting polling-unit results.
He stressed that such an arrangement should not be mistaken for an attempt to establish a parallel electoral commission, noting that INEC remained the constitutionally recognised electoral management body.
According to him, the central issue should be transparency and accountability rather than institutional rivalry, as official and independently monitored results could operate side by side to provide additional layers of verification.
HURIWA said the critical question ahead of the 2027 election was whether results eventually announced at collation centres could be traced to the votes counted and recorded at individual polling units.
Onwubiko said every lawful mechanism that enabled citizens, political parties and observers to independently verify results should be regarded as an additional safeguard for democracy.
He said Nigeria’s experience with disputed elections had demonstrated the risks associated with situations where citizens were unable to reconcile polling-unit results with figures announced at higher levels of collation.
The rights group therefore welcomed the decision by Obi and other stakeholders who might wish to establish similar systems for independently documenting results, saying such mechanisms could preserve contemporaneous evidence and make unauthorised alteration of figures more difficult.
HURIWA, however, cautioned political parties and civil society organisations to ensure that their monitoring arrangements remained within the law and did not obstruct electoral officials, intimidate voters or interfere with the collation process.
Onwubiko urged INEC to engage political parties, civil society organisations, accredited election observers and technology experts on how independent result-monitoring systems could complement the official electoral process.
He also called on the commission to publish clear guidelines on the use of technology, result documentation and independent transmission by political parties and accredited stakeholders before the 2027 elections.
HURIWA further urged INEC to strengthen the protection and preservation of polling-unit results, insisting that results declared at polling units should be properly documented, accessible to authorised stakeholders and preserved in a manner that allows subsequent verification.
“Technology must be deployed to eliminate uncertainty, not create another layer of secrecy,” the association said.
Onwubiko said Nigerians should not have to wait until the final declaration of results before determining whether figures announced at various stages of the electoral process were consistent with those recorded at polling units.
He said the 2027 election provided an opportunity for Nigeria to move beyond promises of electoral credibility and establish a system in which every stage of the voting and results process could be independently verified.
The HURIWA coordinator urged political parties, civil society organisations, professional bodies, religious organisations, election observers and the media to develop lawful voter-transparency initiatives ahead of the election.
He said such initiatives could include voter education, deployment of trained polling-unit agents, photographic documentation of results where legally permissible, secure result archiving and independent monitoring of the collation process.
According to him, such measures should not be viewed as an attempt to undermine INEC but as additional safeguards for protecting the integrity of the ballot.
HURIWA also urged the electoral commission to embrace constructive scrutiny, arguing that an electoral body committed to credible elections should be open to independent verification of the results it receives and declares.
Onwubiko said responsibility for credible elections extended beyond INEC, stressing that political parties must respect electoral rules, candidates must accept lawful outcomes, security agencies must remain neutral, observers must be impartial and voters must be protected from intimidation.
He insisted that no Nigerian should be punished or intimidated for demanding that his or her vote be accurately counted and reflected in the final result.
HURIWA therefore called on the Federal Government, INEC, political parties and security agencies to create an atmosphere where lawful independent electoral monitoring is encouraged rather than criminalised.
The association maintained that the objective should be to ensure that figures announced by any individual, political party or institution could be traced to votes recorded at the polling units.
Onwubiko said the 2027 election must be one in which every vote counts, every result is verifiable and every legitimate challenge is backed by credible evidence.
He consequently urged all stakeholders to support lawful initiatives aimed at strengthening transparency and public confidence in Nigeria’s electoral process.
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