Investigation: How Kwara Electoral Body Suppressed Voters, Manipulated LG Election Results To Favour Ruling APC

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In a two-month-long investigation, The Informant247 assembled evidence of several ‘electoral manipulations’ done by the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC) during the September 21 local government elections. The report documents discrepancies in the election results, voter suppression and widespread disenfranchisement caused by shortages of electoral materials, despite billions of naira released for it. Exclusive footage also shows officials tampering with thumb-printed ballot papers. When approached for comment, the electoral chairman harassed, threatened and briefly detained our journalist in his office.

The day was Wednesday. The atmosphere in Kwara State was one of uneasy calm, with just four days remaining until an election that would usher in a new democratically elected leadership at the third tier of government in the state, following more than three years of rule by a Transition Implementation Committee.

A few days earlier, the Nigerian government had vowed to stop releasing allocations to states without democratically elected local council executives, after a Supreme Court ruling granted them full autonomy.

All eyes were on the newly appointed Chairman of the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC), Mohammed Baba-Okanla. In his 60s, this was likely his first major assignment, but he did not show any signs of nervousness. He sat confidently as he outlined his plans for a hitch-free election during a media briefing organised by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Ilorin.

“Polling units will open at 8:00 a.m., and voting will conclude by 3:00 p.m., after which sorting, counting, and collation of results will begin immediately,” he told the gathered journalists, who were eager for a newsworthy story to share with their equally anxious audiences. “The announcement of results will take place at the designated collation centres, once counting is concluded.”

He added that the commission had worked diligently to ensure every aspect of the electoral process had been carefully planned and organised.

“The issue of the voter register is one we have taken very seriously. A credible voter register is the foundation of any free and fair election, as it ensures that only eligible citizens participate in the electoral process,” he emphasised.

He also reassured the public that the commission would conduct a free, fair and credible election.

By the close of poll on Saturday, September 21, social media was already buzzing with complaints. Allegations of fraud, intimidation and disenfranchisement were widespread.

Nevertheless, before Kwarans had even woken up the following morning, Baba-Okanla had once again appeared before journalists — this time looking shaky and reading from his phone — to announce the outcome of the election.

“After meticulous collation and verification, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has emerged victorious in all categories. Specifically, the APC has won all 16 local government chairmanship positions and secured all 193 councilorship seats,” he read.

What we found – How election results were manipulated

However, an investigation by The Informant247 has found several evidence showing how results from the election were manipulated.

While the official result declared by the electoral body gave a clear 100 percent victory to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) across all 193 wards and 16 local governments, our findings revealed that the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had actually received the most votes in several polling units.

For instance, in Patigi Ward 3 of Patigi Local Government Area, the candidate from the Peoples Democratic Party won the councillorship seat, contrary to the official results declared by the electoral body, according to result sheets obtained by our team.

From the result, the PDP received 677 votes, while the APC amassed 638 votes. The opposition party won in 5 of the 8 polling units in the ward, leaving the ruling party with just 3, in a vote that recorded a 27% turnout. Other parties could only muster 12 votes.

Similarly, for Balogun Fulani Ward 3 of Ilorin South Local Government Area, through our team’s month-long efforts, we gathered result sheets from all 17 polling units in the ward.

The electoral body had declared the APC candidate the winner of the councillor seat in the ward.

However, The Informant247’s review of the results from the 17 polling units revealed a sharp contrast with the official outcome. Out of the 17, the PDP won 16, leaving the APC with only 1.

We found that the PDP received 870 votes, defeating the APC, which secured 375 votes — a margin of 495 votes.

Further findings suggested that the opposition PDP may have won some chairmanship seats in the state as well.

Nevertheless, it is important to clarify that, although we searched through a lot of polling units, we were unable to obtain results from all of them.

In many PUs, electoral officials did not provide result sheets to record votes cast. In other units, results were blurred or improperly captured, making them illegible.

In places like Baruteen, Offa, and Irepodun, among others, no results were available from a large percentage of polling units. Many of these may have been areas where no voting took place due to non-arrival of voting materials.

As a result, our investigation could not provide conclusive results for several other wards and local government areas across the state, despite collecting a large portion of the result sheets.

Video evidence also contradicts electoral chairman, shows PDP won in key places

Although the state electoral body declared the APC the winner in Alanamu, the largest ward in Kwara’s biggest Ilorin West Local Government Area and a key battleground, video evidence obtained by our team reveals a different outcome.

Reading out the votes at the ward collation centre, the electoral officer mentioned that the APC, for the councillor seat, secured 1,856 votes, while the PDP got over 2,500 votes, winning by a landslide and thereby declaring the PDP the winner of the councillors seat.

In another video obtained by our team, the electoral officer declared that the PDP secured the highest number of votes in both the chairmanship and councillor elections in Gambari Ward 2 of Ilorin East Local Government Area.

For the councillorship, he disclosed that the PDP received 1,412 votes, while the APC secured 1,006 votes. A similar trend was seen in the chairmanship race, where the PDP received 1,273 votes, while the APC got 1,004 votes.

In Zango Ward of Ilorin East Local Government Area, the electoral officer announced that, for the councillor seat, the APC received 971 votes, while the PDP amassed 1,327 votes. For the chairmanship, the PDP received 1,277 votes, while the APC got 1,012 votes.

The electoral officer then declared the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party the winner of the councillorship position.

The case was the same in Oju-Ekun Zarumi Ward of Ilorin West Local Government Area, where the electoral officer confirmed that the PDP candidate had received the most votes for the councillor seat.

A crowd of supporters at the collation centre was heard shouting, “PDP!!!”

The use of flashlights by the electoral officials indicated that the video recording was done late in the day.

Despite billions of naira released for poll, electoral materials not adequately provided

Earlier in the day, Kwarans had queued in the sun and rain despite the biting effects of the country’s economic hardship. Yet, thousands of voters were unable to cast their ballots. Far fewer than half of eligible voters across polling units in the state were able to participate in the elections, despite the commission’s billion of naira budgetary allocation.

The state government had initially allocated N1,000,000,000.00 for the election in the 2024 approved budget. However, it later revised the budget to N2,668,896,924.00.

By the end of September 2024, the government reported that it had released N1,620,709,540.00 to the Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWASIEC) for the procurement of electoral hardware and software materials for the election.

Our findings, however, revealed that despite the billions released, election materials — primarily ballot papers and, in other cases, result sheets among others — were insufficiently provided at several polling units across the state. These logistical challenges caused widespread suppression, leading to frustration among voters, some of whom waited for several hours but still could not vote.

Thousands disenfranchised amid voter suppression

In Offa, journalists reported that only a few functioning polling centres operated during the entire day; many designated polling units were completely deserted.

Local observers witnessed several polling stations open around noon, but because of widespread controversy surrounding the lack of result sheets to record results and voter registers at some polling stations, many voters refused to participate and only a handful of ballots were cast.

Abdulwahab Oladimeji, a resident of Offa Local Government Area, one of the areas worst affected, said the election could not take place because incomplete ballot papers were provided at his polling unit (006) in Essa C Ward.

One electoral official told The Informant247, “I am ready to do my job, but I do not have the appropriate materials. The ballot papers they gave me are incomplete, and there is no result sheet to record the vote.”

But it wasn’t just that. 45-year-old Jimoh Tajudeen, from polling unit 005, Shawo South East Ward, said voting couldn’t proceed at his unit because half of the electorate couldn’t find their names on the voter list provided by the electoral body.

For Mrs. Taofeek, a fashion designer at polling unit 001, Open Space Obatiwajuoye Area in Ojomu Central B, she said that although the election was held in her polling unit, she was unable to vote because her name was suspiciously missing from the voter register.

Further independent checks on several stamped election result sheets from no fewer than 10 local government areas revealed that the number of ballot papers provided at many polling units fell short of the number of registered voters on the lists.

For instance, in Ilorin South Local Government Area, a total of 300 ballot papers were issued to polling unit 013, Open Space Beside Ajaye, Balogun Fulani Ward 3, against 510 registered voters on the register, potentially disenfranchising over 200 voters.

Similarly, at polling unit 006, Open Space Ode Alfa Ibeji in Balogun Fulani Ward 3, the election officials provided 300 ballot papers, a figure that didn’t correspond with the 750 voters on the list.

In Ilorin West, journalist Abdulwaheed Sulaiman said the majority of voters in his polling unit 035, Akala-Abe in Adewole Ward, were unable to vote.

“I was present to cover the election and also to exercise my franchise. But I observed that across the 38 polling units in my ward, none had sufficient ballot papers.

“For instance, in my own unit, the ward electoral officials arrived very late. Quite strikingly, we only had 200 ballot papers for both chairmanship and councillorship. This is a polling unit with over 600 registered voters. Though the majority of registered voters were unfortunately disenfranchised, we still insisted that the election must proceed.”

In a video clip obtained by our team, the electoral officer at polling unit 033, Warrah/Oshin/Egbejila Ward of Ilorin West, confirmed that the election did not take place at the unit due to a shortage of ballot papers.

In the clip, independently verified by our team as genuine, she said, “Election did not hold in my polling unit due to a shortage of ballot papers. Instead of the expected 163 ballot papers, we only received 99 papers — 50 for chairmanship and 49 for councillorship.”

In Baruteen, journalists reported that voting did not take place at all in several areas. Polls that were scheduled to open by 8 a.m. either opened after midday or not at all. Local observers reported identical scenes in Irepodun and Isin LGAs.

In Yowere, Sosoki, and Alapa of Asa, voters were, reportedly, seen sitting outside their assigned polling units well into the afternoon, waiting in vain for electoral officials and materials to arrive.

“We have just been waiting here since morning,” one would-be voter in Isin told journalists. “We want to vote, but there is no election here.”

Abdulrazaq Olayemi, the deputy coordinator of the Kwara-based Elites Network for Sustainable Development, cited several problems with the vote, including the late arrival of officials at some polling stations and the failure to provide sufficient ballot papers and result sheets.

“We are aware of numerous polling units where KWASIEC officials brought insufficient ballot papers, leading to a situation where voters who showed up far outnumbered the available ballot papers. This deliberate disenfranchisement of eligible voters — who are listed on the KWASIEC voters’ register — is a strong sign that the electoral body never intended for the results of the LG election to reflect the true desires of Kwarans,” he said in a statement issued after the election.

He added, “In many polling units, KWASIEC officials were reported not to bring result sheets, and voters were not confident enough to proceed with the elections as there was no official document where their votes would be recorded after counting and collation. Many feared their votes might not count, and that the number of votes later announced by KWASIEC might differ completely from what they actually cast in their respective polling units.”

Rigging, irregularities and ballot snatching mar election

Aside from the massive disenfranchisement that affected the election, several cases of rigging, ballot-stuffing and disruption of the voting process were reported across the state.

For example, The Informant247 was able to exclusively obtain footage that appears to show officials ripping up ballots with votes.

The incident, which we independently confirmed, happened at the Offa Local Government Secretariat, which serves as the collation centre for the Local Government Area.

Further independent checks by The Informant247, using deepfake technology, confirmed the authenticity of the 48-second video.

The man who recorded the clip was eventually cautioned by a yet-to-be-identified individual. One could hear him saying, “What you are doing is not good. Can you record your face as well?”

In several other video clips obtained by The Informant247, we saw how thugs stormed different polling units, making off with stacks of ballot papers and other materials.

At Kasandubu Polling Unit, Okaka 2 of Ilorin South, voters fought off the invading thugs, preventing them from stealing the ballot boxes.

The scene was the same at Ansarul Islam LGEA Okaka 2 of Ilorin South, a polling station with 7 PUs, where ballots already cast were scattered by suspected thugs, who were said to have come in large numbers.

As seen in the disruption video, the ballot boxes were destroyed, and the ballot papers were scattered across the field.

Also, in another video clip that has now gone viral on social media, voters in Ilorin East, angered by the outcome of the election, attacked electoral officials, destroying voting materials and burning ballot papers.

Journalists and local election observers have reported that the elections were similarly marred by violence, fraud, and intimidation in several other places across the state.

KWASIEC’s reaction

When contacted via phone call, Baba-Okanla, the chairman, told us that there were no anomalies in the election.

When asked about the several pieces of evidence we had gathered that showed the opposition had won in some wards, he replied, “Let them go to court now. Any aggrieved party, let them go to court. Let them go to court and present the video in court so that the judge can make a final declaration. Final judgement.”

Again, asked why electoral materials were insufficiently provided across the state despite the funds released for the election, he directed The Informant247 journalist who called to visit his office.

On Wednesday, November 20, one of our investigative team members visited his office. He met the chairman alongside a few other officials.

When he presented some of the facts we had gathered to him, the chairman said, “That is why it doesn’t make sense. Where is the result that shows you that? Since you’ve done your report, there’s no need to hear from me. Mr. Man, don’t embarrass yourself. Don’t embarrass yourself. Are you with me? Don’t embarrass yourself. It’s better you remain in your own class, because what you’re doing will implicate you and land you where you don’t expect. We are asking you now. You say you’re a journalist—were you at the place where what you are saying happened?”

At this point, one of the officials, whom the chairman addressed as Honourable Commissioner, interjected, “You see, when you have a result and the difference is just six, haha, for an educated person, you should know that when you thoroughly investigate it, and you now consider the pluses and minuses, it might not be the true result you’ve gotten. A difference of six. Had the difference been, say, 100, 200, or even 1,000, then you could make a case. But a difference of six? And you don’t know about pluses and minuses? It’s possible that when you’re comparing the results, or whoever gave you the results, they may have missed something somewhere.”

‘We don’t ask how you spend your office money, don’t ask ours either’

Regarding the funds released for the election, the official said, “Do you have the power or authority to investigate money allocated to people? Like your office now — does anybody have the power to come and ask you how much has entered your account, like last year versus this year, and how you spent it? Does anybody have that authority, apart from your organisation, apart from your employer? The only people who have authority over what goes to people and how it is spent are the authorities that allocated that money. And even those authorities have their own mechanisms.

‘It is not your business if the election is not well conducted’

He continued, “Is it your business? Even if it’s N10 billion that’s given to the organisation, is it your business? The election was not well conducted. One Gambari ward 1 or 6, whatever they won — is that your business? It’s not your business now.”

This report was published with support and funding from Civic Media Lab

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