#EdoDecides2024: YIAGA releases list of LGAs with altered results, demands INEC officials’ prosecution

YIAGA Africa, a civil society organisation, has said the results of the three local government areas in Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State were altered at the collation stage.

In the post-election report released on Monday in Benin City, the state capital, YIAGA said the results announced by INEC for Oredo, Egor, and Esan West Local Government Areas were inconsistent when subjected to analysis, indicating that they were altered at the collation level.

The report, signed by Aisha Abdullahi, the election team lead, and the Executive Director of YIAGA, Samson Itodo, declared that the election failed integrity tests and standards.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that INEC declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election, defeating 16 other candidates.

Mr Okpebholo polled 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 247,274.

The Labour Party (LP) candidate, Olumide Akpata, came a distant third with 22,763 votes.

The outcome of the election is being challenged by the PDP, which claimed there was manipulation at the collation level.

Reports of violence at the collation centres in Oredo and Ikpoba/Okha local government areas forced INEC to move the collation of results for the two LGAs to its headquarters in the state capital. This delayed the announcement of the final result for over four hours.

Methodology

YIAGA stated that it deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the election. This system involved 300 stationary and 25 roving observers, covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs.

To test the results announced by INEC, YIAGA used the results it collected from sampled polling units and compared them with the official results declared by INEC.

“YIAGA Africa’s estimates are based on official results announced at the polling units from a representative random sample of polling units.

“Based on reports received from the sampled polling units, YIAGA Africa can project the expected vote shares for each party within a narrow margin,” the report reads in part.

The outcome of the analysis

For Oredo Local Government Area, which APC won by polling 30,780 votes against PDP’s 24,938 and the Labour Party’s 5,389 votes, YIAGA stated that the official figure announced for the APC candidate falls outside its estimate.

Similarly, the report noted that the figure declared for the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, in the local government is outside its estimated margin.

For Egor Local Government Area, YIAGA said the 16,760 votes declared for the APC were inconsistent with its statistical data.

Similarly, the Esan West local government figures were also flagged, particularly the 11,004 votes declared for the PDP in the local government.

“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 the PDP fall outside the PRVT estimates. Also, in Oredo LGA, the official results announced for the LP fall outside the PRVT estimates,” YIAGA stated.

The organisation said the alterations were likely made at the collation level.

“These inconsistencies with YIAGA Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate that the results were altered at the collation level.

“The disparities between the official results released by INEC and YIAGA Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process,” it stated.

What INEC should do

YIAGA called on INEC to “urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results, especially election results from Oredo, Egor, Esan West, and other LGAs.”

To address the issue and prevent future occurrences, YIAGA called for the review of the IREV portal and the amendment of the Electoral Act to strengthen the electronic transmission of results.

“It is imperative to integrate the IReV and electronic transmission of results into the electoral legal framework to confer legality on polling unit-level results uploaded on the portal.

“To this end, the National Assembly should expeditiously amend the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory,” YIAGA stated.

The organisation called for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers involved in manipulating results and violating the guidelines on result collation.

BVAS and other positive aspects of the election

According to YIAGA, the entire election was not entirely negative, citing the optimal performance of the BVAS machines as a positive aspect.

The organisation stated that, apart from some isolated cases, the BVAS machines functioned optimally, and electoral officers also promptly uploaded results to the IREV portal.

“Despite some isolated incidents of inadequate election materials, the BVAS machines functioned optimally, and all voters in the queue by 2:30 pm were allowed to vote, despite the late opening of polls.

“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,” the report stated.

Security

YIAGA praised the professionalism of security agencies during the election. However, security agencies received a low score for their conduct during the collation process.

“While there were isolated incidents of intimidation, the security forces largely acted professionally, ensuring a peaceful and secure environment on election day.

“However, reports of interference during the results collation process, including the denial of access to accredited observers and party agents at collation centres, cast doubt on the neutrality of some security personnel,” YIAGA noted.