Edo Guber Poll Results Were Manipulated — Yiaga Africa

Yiaga Africa, a frontline non-profit organisation, pro­moting participatory democracy, human rights and civic partici­pation, that observed the Septem­ber 21, Edo State governorship election, said the election results were manipulated during the col­lation process.

Yiaga said this in a report on Monday jointly signed by Dr. Ai­sha Abdullahi,

Yiaga’s Africa Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, who is the Execu­tive Director of the organisation.

The organisation said its findings showed that votes were altered in some places at the level of collation.

The organisation said it ap­plied what it called the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) method­ology to observe the Edo State governorship election.

“The incidents of results ma­nipulation and disruptions during ward and local government colla­tion in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor and Oredo LGAs, including intimidation of INEC officials, observers and party agents and the collation of results contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, severely undermine the credibility of the election results.

“Inconsistencies in the offi­cially announced results. Based on reports received from the sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa can project the expected vote shares for each party within a narrow margin. However, Yia­ga Africa is only able to verify the election outcome if it falls with­in its estimated margins. If the official results do not fall within Yiaga Africa’s estimated ranges, then the results may have been manipulated”, the report noted.

Continuing, it said: “Accord­ing to INEC, the All Progressives Congress (APC) received 51.1% of the votes, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 43.3% of the votes, and the Labour Party garnered 4.0% of the votes. Based on reports from 287 of 300 (96%) sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa’s statistical analysis shows inconsistencies in the official results announced by INEC. For instance, the official results announced by INEC for APC in Oredo and Egor LGAs fall outside the PRVT estimate. In Esan West LGA, the official results for PDP fall outside the PRVT estimates. Also, in Oredo LGA, the official results as an­nounced for LP fall outside the PRVT estimates. These incon­sistencies with Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate that the results were altered at the level of collation.

“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”.

Yiaga Africa, which said it deployed “300 stationary and 25 roving observers, covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs” also criticised INEC’s inadequate planning in terms of logistics.

“Yiaga Africa’s election day situation analysis statement highlighted logistical challeng­es that led to delays in the com­mencement of accreditation and voting at various polling units across the state. Inadequate plan­ning in the supply of vehicles for transporting ad hoc officials and election materials, along with the absence of accompanying secu­rity personnel, further exacer­bated the delays”, it said.

The organisation condemned “acts of violence and disruption of voting and results collation process by political thugs and hoodlums, particularly violence directed at voters and election officials”.

It said: “These unwholesome acts undermine the integrity of the elections. Yiaga Africa ex­tends its sympathies to citizens and polling officials who suffered severe injuries and loss of valu­able properties due to these at­tacks and violence. Yiaga Africa calls on security agencies to thor­oughly investigate these cases of attacks and intimidation against voters and polling officials”.

However, it noted that INEC consistently applied its guide­lines in managing the accredita­tion and voting process in a sig­nificant number of polling units.

It said the BVAS machines functioned optimally as all vot­ers in the queue by 2:30p.m were allowed to vote, despite the late opening of polls in some places.

It also said: “The polling officials uploaded polling unit results on the IReV in a timely manner, making it possible for citizens to access polling unit level results”.