Tech Shield: Soludo Aides Detail High-Tech Election Strategy

The success of Governor Chukwuma Soludo in the last gubernatorial election was underpinned by an advanced, two-way technological command and control system designed to actively safeguard the electoral process against alleged manipulation, according to the Managing Director of the Anambra ICT Agency, Mr. Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata. His revelation offers a deep look inside the sophisticated operational strategies deployed by Soludo’s supporters to secure and verify votes.

The deployment was a direct response to concerns raised by Soludo before the election, where he had openly alleged that his opponents harboured plans to falsify results in clandestine locations and influence Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials to swap these fraudulent figures with authentic tallies. Agbata confirmed that his agency, as a strong proponent of the Governor’s administration, was keenly aware of these threats and therefore worked diligently to ensure the integrity of the votes garnered by the governor.

Agbata, who is widely known by the acronym CFA, explained that the initiative was rooted in the state’s commitment to its technological governance philosophy: “Anambra runs with the mantra, ‘everything technology and technology everywhere,’ and that mantra is what guides Mr. Governor.” Recognizing the inherent complexity and high-stakes nature of the election, the ICT Agency focused on leveraging technology to manage and monitor every aspect of the electoral process in real time.

The core strategy involved establishing a dual operational structure: “We had to come up with a strategy where we built a two-way system command and control centre, what you may call a situation room, one in Isuofia, the governor’s hometown, and one in Awka, at the Government House here.” These parallel centres served as the central intelligence hubs, providing real-time data flow that allowed the Governor and party officials to be aware of developments in all of the state’s 5,720 polling units.

The system was designed for efficiency in reporting and verification. “We also needed a way to ensure that incident reports, results, and any other general information were easily captured,” Agbata noted. The physical setup utilized large video screens, allowing operatives to coordinate results and track them meticulously from “polling unit to polling unit, ward to ward, and local government to local government.”

A crucial element of the system was its direct link to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). “As INEC was uploading their results, we were also comparing them with what we had on our portal, and tracking wards where results were yet to be remitted, while our men in the field chased after them to avoid manipulations,” Agbata disclosed. This parallel tracking system, he said, was instrumental in protecting the governor’s votes against theft.

Beyond the command centres, the agency deployed technology for preemptive analysis. Before the election, they conducted a massive survey, using targeted phone calls to over 200,000 Anambra citizens with a set of seven questions to gauge voting intentions. This research, along with the provision of over 20 terabytes of data and free Wi-Fi through the Geeks and Founders Alliance for Soludo (GEFAS)—a tech-centric support group—was vital in addressing voter apathy and understanding the electorate’s pulse. Agbata emphasized the primacy of data in modern decision-making: “Data is the new gold, and whether it is at the state or federal level, we need data to ensure informed decisions.”