Yiaga Africa, a leading election monitor in Nigeria, has raised serious concerns regarding the integrity of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, reporting widespread manipulation of results.
The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the poll, with the APC triumphing over the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. INEC reported that the APC received 51.1% of the votes, while the PDP garnered 43.3%, and the Labour Party secured 4.0%.
However, there have been reports that the election was marred by reports of irregularities, vote fraud, and manipulation during the collation process. The opposition PDP has rejected the outcome, accusing the APC of rigging the election and calling for an investigation into the conduct of the polls.
President Bola Tinubu has welcomed the outcome as an indication Nigerians support his administration’s punishing economic policies.
Yiaga Africa, a nongovernmental group, said it utilized its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to monitor the election held on Saturday.
According to Yiaga Africa’s analysis of reports from 287 of 300 sampled polling units, discrepancies between the official results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and their projections suggest potential electoral fraud.
The group said the official figures for APC in Oredo and Egor local government areas (LGAs) fell outside their estimated ranges, raising suspicions of manipulation at the collation stage.
The organization condemned the actions of certain biased INEC officials and security personnel who interfered with the collation process.
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Yiaga Africa highlighted significant disruptions reported in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs, which they believe created opportunities for election manipulation and compromised the overall integrity of the election results.
“The disparities between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process,” it said.
“Yiaga Africa strongly condemns the actions of biased INEC officials who altered figures during collation, as well as the interference by some security officials in the process.”
The group called for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers involved in altering results. It stressed the necessity of holding these individuals accountable for their actions to ensure the integrity of future elections.
Yiaga Africa urged INEC to clarify the inconsistencies in the results, particularly those from Oredo, Egor, and Esan West LGAs, emphasizing that prompt action is essential to restore public trust in the electoral process.
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