The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday formally opened the 2023 presidential election collation centre at the International Conference Centre in Abuja.
INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu opened the collation centre and set certain ground rules for the collation of election results.
“The collation centre is hereby declared open until the final announcement of the results of the 2023 presidential election,” he said.
Mahmood also said the collation of presidential election results will be done at four levels — first at the 8,889 wards, then at the 774 local government areas, then the state collation officers for the presidential election (SCOPs) at the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory will submit the votes per candidate in Abuja.
The electoral chief said the collation centre will be opened all day and all night with short breaks.
He also cautioned political parties to only draw their figures from INEC and announced that collation from states would resume by 6 pm when results from states would have arrived.
“As we await the arrival of the SCOPs, we will now take a break and resume at 6pm.
“We are certain that by 6pm, one or two of the SCOPs will arrive with the results. So, we begin the process of collation,” the INEC chief stated.
Elections for the office of the President, 360 House of Representatives and 109 Senatorial seats were held in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday and Nigerians are eager to know declaration of results by the electoral umpire.
