Edo governorship election failed integrity test – Yiaga Africa

Yiaga Africa has condemned the results of the Edo State governorship election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, saying it failed its integrity test.

The civil society group said it reached the conclusion after it deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the Edo State governorship election, utilizing 300 stationary and 25 roving observers covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs.

This was made known in a statement released on Monday and jointly signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director.

Yiaga Africa stated that the election failed the electoral integrity test due to the lack of post election statement on 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.

DAILY POST recalls that INEC declared Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner after defeating his main challengers, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.

On the official results announced by INEC, Yiaga Africa said it recorded incidents of 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.

“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.