Itodo: media can report polling unit results, but only INEC can declare a winner

Media houses can report election results once they have been announced at polling units, but they must not present those figures as a final declaration of who won, civic leader Samson Itodo has said.

In an article published on Tuesday, Itodo explained how the results process works and where the line falls between reporting and declaring.

Results are first announced at the polling unit, both verbally and on the posted result sheet, so that the public can see them. Once that happens, he said, the figures are public information.

He also pointed to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV), the Independent National Electoral Commission's online platform for uploading polling unit results, which was set up to let citizens and stakeholders follow collation and reduce the chance of tampering.

Why reporting matters

Itodo argued that media and citizen oversight protect INEC from political pressure. When results are already public and have been documented by observers and newsrooms, it becomes harder for anyone to change them later.

He described collation as historically the weakest point in the electoral process, and the stage where political actors may try to compromise outcomes. Independent reporting, he said, adds a layer of accountability and builds public confidence.

But he drew a clear distinction between announcing results and declaring a winner. Only INEC has the constitutional power to declare a result and return a candidate as elected, and until it does, no candidate can legally be regarded as having won.

He added that collation can still change the picture. INEC may cancel results where over-voting is confirmed, and adjustments can follow from polling units where elections did not hold, were postponed, or were disrupted by violence.

"Until INEC officially declares and returns a winner, all reported figures should be understood as part of an ongoing results management process," he wrote.

Itodo said publishing false or misleading results can damage public trust and attract sanctions, while responsible reporting of officially announced figures strengthens transparency without stepping on INEC's mandate.

What happens next

For voters, the practical takeaway is to treat figures reported before INEC's final declaration as provisional. The commission's own declaration remains the only legally recognised outcome.