Esther Salifu
Africa Yiaga Africa, a leading election observation group, has condemned the Edo State governorship election, citing widespread irregularities and manipulation of results.
“The 2024 Edo governorship election fails the electoral integrity test due to the lack of transparency in the results collation process,” said Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission.
Yiaga Africa deployed 300 stationary and 25 roving observers across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) to monitor the election.
The group’s findings revealed significant discrepancies between the official results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Yiaga Africa’s independent estimates.
“We observed incidents of results manipulation and disruptions during ward and local government collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs,” said Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa.
“These actions undermine the credibility of the election results.
“Yiaga Africa’s report highlighted logistical challenges, including delays in accreditation and voting, inadequate planning, and violence directed at voters and election officials, violence and disruption of voting and results collation processes were reported.
Results manipulation occurred during ward and local government collation.
INEC officials and security personnel interfered with the collation process.Low voter turnout (22.4%) despite high PVC collection rates.
“The disruption of result collation raises concerns about the distribution and effectiveness of security deployment for the election,” Dr. Abdullahi noted.
The group condemned the actions of biased INEC officials and security personnel who interfered with the collation process.”We call for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers engaged in results manipulation,” Itodo emphasized.
Yiaga Africa recommended that INEC clarify inconsistencies in the results, particularly in Oredo, Egor, Esan West, and other LGAs. The group also advocated for the integration of electronic transmission of results into the electoral legal framework.
“Drastic steps are needed for fundamental electoral reforms to restore public confidence in the electoral process,” Dr. Abdullahi concluded.
