Yiaga Africa has declared that the results of the governorship election in Edo State, which was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, did not meet the standards of integrity.
The civil society organisation said it arrived at its conclusion after using 300 stationary and 25 roving observers to cover a representative sample of polling places across all 18 LGAs in order to observe the Edo State governorship election using the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology.
This was disclosed in a statement issued by Executive Director Samson Itodo and Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission Dr. Aisha Abdullahi on Monday.
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According to Yiaga Africa, the election failed the electoral integrity criteria because there was no post-election declaration about the transparency in the results collation process, which according to it, led to the manipulation of results.
“While key processes such as accreditation, voting, counting, and recording of results at the polling unit substantially complied with procedures, the results collation process was compromised by the actions of some biased INEC officials in connivance with other actors.
“This manipulation severely undermines the overall integrity of the election,” the group said.
Anaedoonline.ng remembers that on Monday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Okpebholo was proclaimed the winner by INEC following his victories over the Peoples Democratic Party’s Asue Ighodalo and the Labour Party’s Olumide Akpata.
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Yiaga Africa reported on manipulation and disturbances during ward and local government collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs, involving intimidation of INEC workers, observers, and party agents, in relation to the official results released by INEC.
“The disparities between the official results released by INEC and Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process.
“Yiaga Africa strongly condemns the actions of some biased INEC officials who altered figures during collation, including the actions of some security officials who interfered with the collation process.
“Yiaga Africa notes that the cases of disruption in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs in the course of collation created opportunities for election manipulation, raising significant concerns about the credibility and integrity of the results collation process,” parts of the statement read.
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