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…Manipulated, fails integrity test – Yiaga Africa
The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) Election Analysis Centre (EAC) has reported widespread over-voting and low voter turnout in last Saturday’s Edo State governorship election.
In a post-election statement signed by Prof. Adele Jinadu, Chair of the CDD-EAC, the group raised concerns over the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) Result Viewing Portal (iReV) and cited instances of over-voting in areas like Ovia North East and Etsako East.
Jinadu noted that in some polling units, the votes recorded for the All Progressives Congress (APC) exceeded the number of accredited voters. For example, in the Weppa registration area, APC received 352 votes, while only 213 voters were accredited, he said.
The statement also criticised the low voter turnout, despite a high percentage of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected. In Edo Central, only 25% of voters turned out despite an 87% PVC collection rate, while Edo North and South recorded 33% and 17% turnout, respectively. Jinadu suggested that the heavy security presence and militarisation may have discouraged voters.
The CDD-EAC called for further investigation into these discrepancies, particularly in areas like Igueben, where voter accreditation was high but turnout was disproportionately low.
Meanwhile, Yiaga Africa, another accredited election observer, said the election failed integrity tests due to widespread result manipulation during and after collation.
In a statement co-signed by Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, the group highlighted serious irregularities during the collation process.
Using their Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology, they found significant discrepancies in results from Oredo, Egor, and Esan West Local Government Areas (LGAs).
“Incidents of results manipulation and disruptions during collation in Ikpoba/Okha, Etsako West, Egor, and Oredo LGAs, including intimidation of INEC officials, severely undermined the credibility of the election results,” the statement said.
Yiaga Africa also noted that official results for APC in Oredo and Egor and for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Esan West fell outside their PRVT estimates, indicating possible tampering.
The observer group called for investigations into the conduct of polling and collation officials involved in the manipulation and urged INEC to address inconsistencies in results from specific LGAs. They also recommended amendments to the Electoral Act to mandate the electronic transmission of results.