The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it declared the 2023 presidential election result during the early hours of the morning.

On March 1st, at around 2 a.m., INEC announced Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner with 8,794,726 votes.

Tinubu defeated his main opponents, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).

The announcement, made by INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, left many Nigerians puzzled, especially those who had waited for hours and woke up to the final results.

For some, particularly supporters of losing candidates, the timing raised concerns and suspicions about transparency.

Rotimi Oyekanmi, Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, addressed these concerns during a session with the INEC Press Corps.

He explained that during a presidential election, Nigeria is treated as one constituency, meaning the results must be meticulously collected and compiled from various stages.

This begins at the polling units and extends through the ward, local government, state, and national levels.

The detailed process of gathering and validating results from all 36 states, including regions as far away as Sokoto and Maiduguri, meant the announcement had to be delayed until all necessary figures had been presented in Abuja.

Oyekanmi emphasized that there is no constitutional or legal mandate specifying a time for declaring election results.

He clarified that INEC could only announce after receiving the necessary data from each state’s returning officer, who had to travel to Abuja.

The returning officers are interviewed by the INEC chairman to ensure the accuracy of the results before the final figures are accepted and announced.

In response to criticism about the late-night announcement, Oyekanmi pointed out that the 2015 election results were declared by the then-chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, around 4 a.m.

He explained that it’s the completion of the collation process, rather than the time of day, that determines when the results are announced.

Ultimately, the timing of the declaration in 2023 was influenced by the logistical challenges of collating and confirming results from across the country.

The explanation aims to provide clarity to the Nigerian public about the timing and transparency of the process, stressing that the delay was necessary to ensure the credibility of the results rather than an attempt to manipulate the election outcome.