Yiaga Africa has criticized the results of the Edo State governorship election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying it did not pass the integrity test.
This civil society group came to this conclusion by using the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) method to watch over the election. They had 300 observers staying in one place and 25 moving around, covering a representative sample of polling stations across all 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
This information was shared on Monday in a statement signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director.
Yiaga Africa said the election failed the integrity test because there was no clear statement about transparency in the process of collecting results. This, according to them, led to manipulating the results.
“While parts of the election like accreditation, voting, counting, and recording results at the polling unit mostly followed the rules, the process of collecting results was corrupted by the actions of some biased INEC officials working with others.
“This manipulation seriously hurt the overall integrity of the election,” the group noted.
DAILY POST reports that INEC declared Monday Okpebholo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner after he defeated his main rivals, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
Talking about the official results announced by INEC, Yiaga Africa stated they saw incidents of manipulation and disruptions during the collection of results in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs. This included intimidating INEC officials, observers, and party agents.
“The differences between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates show manipulation of results during the collection process.
“Yiaga Africa strongly condemns the actions of some biased INEC officials who changed numbers during the collection, including some security officials who interfered with the process.
“Yiaga Africa points out that the disruptions in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs during the collection process allowed for election manipulation, raising serious concerns about the credibility and integrity of the results collection process,” part of the statement read.