A coalition of Civil Society Organisations, including the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER, and TAF Africa, has raised concerns about the intimidation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials during the Edo State gubernatorial election on Saturday.
In a joint statement titled “Election Observer Groups on the Transparency of the Results Collation Process in the 2024 Edo Governorship Election,” released on Sunday, the groups also expressed worries about the transparency of INEC’s ongoing results collation process.
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It said, “We, the undersigned accredited civil society organizations observing the 2024 Edo governorship elections, express concern over the transparency of the ongoing results collation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“Reports of 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, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process.
“We acknowledge INEC’s recent statement recognizing reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate and address any proven violations.
“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.”
The coalition urged security agencies to avoid interfering in the collation process and to ensure that accredited party agents, the media, and election observers are granted full access to collation centres.
It stressed that the role of security agencies is to protect the electoral process, not to create conditions that undermine transparency, which could negatively affect the credibility of the election’s outcome.
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