Yiaga Africa, a civil society organization, has claimed that the results of three local government areas in the Edo State governorship election held on Saturday were altered during the collation process.
In its post-election report released on Monday in Benin City, YIAGA highlighted discrepancies in the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for Oredo, Egor, and Esan West Local Government Areas.
According to the report, signed by Aisha Abdullahi, the election team lead, and Executive Director Samson Itodo, the results showed inconsistencies when analyzed, suggesting manipulation at the collation stage.
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The report concluded that the election did not meet integrity standards.
INEC had declared Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election, with 291,667 votes, defeating Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes. The Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, placed third with 22,763 votes.
The PDP is now contesting the election outcome, alleging manipulation during collation.
Reports of violence at the collation centers in Oredo and Ikpoba/Okha local government areas led INEC to relocate the collation of results for these LGAs to its headquarters in Benin, causing a delay of over four hours in announcing the final result.
Methodology
YIAGA Africa explained that it utilized the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to monitor the election. This system included 300 stationary observers and 25 roving observers, who covered a representative sample of polling units across all 18 local government areas.
To verify the accuracy of the results announced by INEC, YIAGA compared the official results with those it gathered from the sampled polling units. This comparison was made to assess the consistency and integrity of the election outcomes declared by INEC.
“YIAGA Africa’s estimates are based on official results announced at the polling units from a representative random sample of polling units.
“Based on reports received from the sampled polling units, YIAGA Africa can project the expected vote shares for each party within a narrow margin,” the report reads in part.
The outcome of the analysis
In Oredo Local Government Area, where the APC secured 30,780 votes against the PDP’s 24,938 and the Labour Party’s 5,389 votes, YIAGA noted that the official figure for the APC candidate fell outside its projected estimates.
The report also highlighted that the votes declared for the Labour Party candidate, Olumide Akpata, in Oredo exceeded YIAGA’s calculated margin.
For Egor Local Government Area, YIAGA flagged the 16,760 votes announced for the APC as inconsistent with its statistical data.
Similarly, in Esan West Local Government Area, the 11,004 votes declared for the PDP raised concerns, with YIAGA stating they did not align with their data.
“For instance, the official results announced by INEC for APC in Oredo and Egor LGAs fall outside the PRVT estimate. In Esan West LGA, the official results for the PDP fall outside the PRVT estimates. Also, in Oredo LGA, the official results announced for the LP fall outside the PRVT estimates,” YIAGA stated.
The organisation said the alterations were likely made at the collation level.
“These inconsistencies with YIAGA Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate that the results were altered at the collation level.
“The disparities between the official results released by INEC and YIAGA Africa’s PRVT estimates indicate manipulation of results during the collation process,” it stated.
What INEC should do
YIAGA called on INEC to “urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results, especially election results from Oredo, Egor, Esan West, and other LGAs.”
To tackle the issue and prevent future occurrences, YIAGA urged a comprehensive review of the IREV portal and advocated for amendments to the Electoral Act to reinforce the process of electronic transmission of results.
“It is imperative to integrate the IReV and electronic transmission of results into the electoral legal framework to confer legality on polling unit-level results uploaded on the portal.
“To this end, the National Assembly should expeditiously amend the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory,” YIAGA stated.
The organisation urged the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers implicated in result manipulation and violations of the guidelines for result collation.
BVAS and other positive aspects of the election
YIAGA acknowledged that the election was not entirely negative, highlighting the optimal performance of the BVAS machines as a positive aspect.
The organisation noted that, aside from a few isolated incidents, the BVAS machines worked efficiently, and electoral officers promptly uploaded results to the IREV portal.
“Despite some isolated incidents of inadequate election materials, the BVAS machines functioned optimally, and all voters in the queue by 2:30 pm were allowed to vote, despite the late opening of polls.
“The polling officials uploaded polling unit results on the IReV in a timely manner, making it possible for citizens to access polling unit-level results,” the report stated.
Security
YIAGA commended the professionalism of security agencies during the election. However, the organisation gave them a low rating for their conduct during the collation process.
“While there were isolated incidents of intimidation, the security forces largely acted professionally, ensuring a peaceful and secure environment on election day.
“However, reports of interference during the results collation process, including the denial of access to accredited observers and party agents at collation centres, cast doubt on the neutrality of some security personnel,” YIAGA noted.
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