…PDP alleges results alteration, demands re-collation
…observer groups raise concerns about INEC’s transparency
…Accord Party’s Enabulele accuses umpire of corruption
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo, winner of the September 21, 2024 Edo State governorship election.
According to the results announced by INEC, Okpebholo won in 12 out of the 18 local government areas in the state, scoring a total of 291,667 votes, while the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, scored 246,674 votes.
“That Okpebholo Monday of APC having satisfied the requirement of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned elected,” INEC’s Returning Officer for the poll, Prof Faruk Kuta, said at exactly 09:27pm, to delightful cheers from APC supporters at the collation centre in Benin City, the state capital on Sunday.
Kuta, who is the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, in Niger State, declared the winner of the poll after series of recesses.
Meanwhile, the Edo State chapter of the PDP has rejected the results, alleging that the votes were inflated to favour the APC.
In a letter addressed to the office of the INEC Chairman in Abuja, signed by the state chairman of the PDP, Dr Tony Aziegbemi, and made available to journalists in Benin City on Sunday, the ruling party in the state alleged alteration of results from some units in three local governments – Akoko Edo, Egor and Estako West – calling on the electoral commission to re-collate and recompute the results.
The letter was titled “Re: Protest against manufactured vote entries and unjust inflation of APC votes and deduction of PDP votes in the collation of results of Edo State Governorship Election held on 21 September 2024”, read: “It has come to our attention that the Electoral Officers appointed by the INEC for the conduct of the Edo State Governorship election made entries that are totally different from the actual results as uploaded on the INEC IREV, thereby unjustly inflating votes in favour of the APC and deducting the votes of the PDP.
“In Akoko Edo LGA, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 25,010 votes while 34,847 votes were recorded in the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, the number of votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 18,620, but 15,865 were returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer.
“It would interest you that in Ward 9 Akoko Edo LGA, from the 36 Polling Unit results uploaded on the IREV, the total votes obtained by APC is 2,350 while 9104 was entered into the EC8B result for APC. The total number of votes for PDP is 1359, while 633 were entered in the EC8B. Also, in Ward 6 Akoko Edo LGA, where elections were not held in Ward 6 Units 12, 17, 15, 18, 14 and 16, results were returned for the said polling units in the Ward Result sheet (EC8B).”
The PDP said in Egor LGA, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 10,972 votes while 16,760 votes were recorded in the ECBC declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, a collation of the votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 14,485, but 14,658 were returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer.
“It would interest you to note that the collation of the Egor LGA was not done at the designated LGA centre but was moved to the INEC state headquarters, and the PDP agent was not allowed to be part of the exercise,” PDP said.
“In Etsako West LGA, a simple collation of all the votes recorded in the polling unit results uploaded on the IREV shows that the APC obtained 29,858 votes while 32,107 votes were recorded in the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. For the PDP, a collation of the votes from the results uploaded on the IREV is 16,712, but 17,483 was returned on the EC8C declared by the LGA Returning Officer. The above-highlighted irregularities are very apparent and extremely scandalous, as well as a brazen attempt to steal the mandate of the PDP and also a terrible embarrassment to the commission,” it said.
The PDP asked INEC to immediately re-collate and recompute the actual results for the various polling units in the “above highlighted local government areas in compliance with the INEC guidelines and regulations, which mandates that votes from various units and wards be properly collated”.
Also, the PDP candidate, Ighodalo said the election could go down as the worst in Nigeria’s history due to numerous alleged irregularities.
Ighodalo raised the alarm on Sunday at a press conference organised by the Edo PDP National Campaign Council, which was led by Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Fintiri.
The event which also had in attendance the outgoing governor, Godwin Obaseki, focused on allegations of manipulation by INEC.
In his presentation, Ighodalo avowed to instances of electoral infractions across multiple polling units, questioning the credibility of the results being announced.
One of the major infractions he cited involved polling units in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, where accredited voters were recorded as zero, yet results were announced.
“The way this election is going, it is set to be the worst election in the history of this country.
“In Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the figure for accredited voters was NIL, but the results claimed the APC had 227 votes, while the PDP had 103. How is that even possible?
“In another unit in Ikpoba/Okha Ologbo, the number of accredited voters was recorded as 156, but the APC was declared to have won 2,110 votes, while the PDP received just 57 votes, and no votes were recorded for the Labour Party,” Ighodalo stated.
Governor Fintiri echoed the concerns, adding that PDP agents had been denied access to collation centres, raising further questions about the transparency of the process.
Fintiri called on INEC to follow its own rules and ensure that the collation of results was conducted fairly and transparently.
“What we’re asking from INEC is to follow their rules, REC has no business to announce results or move collation to INEC headquarters. This is our stand and we will go back to consult,” said Fintiri.
In the same vein, election observers raised concerns about the transparency of INEC in the Edo election.
The observers include the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa.
The groups, in a statement pointed to disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, which they said raised significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process.
“We acknowledge INEC’s recent statement recognising reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate and address any proven violations,” the group said.
“In light of this, we urge INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and returns where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the electoral act and INEC regulations, and guidelines,” they said.
The governorship candidate of Accord Party, Dr. Bright Enabulele, accused INEC of conducting what he described as the most corrupt election in Nigeria’s political history.
Enabulele’s claims centre around alleged manipulation of results during the recent elections, which he said undermined the democratic process.
Addressing journalists in his hometown following the polls, Enabulele highlighted his experience at his polling unit, Ward 5 St Saviour Ivbiyeneva Primary School unit 1 in the Ikpoba/Okha LGA.
According to Enabulele, despite voting on live television and being confident of securing hundreds of votes, the official results recorded zero votes for him.
“My election was recorded zero despite voting. It was on live TV that I voted. How come INEC recorded zero vote for me?” he questioned, expressing disbelief over the glaring discrepancy.
“I am a candidate, and my vote is not counted. The one result alone shows that the election results are not credible,” he said.
