Atedo Peterside, founder of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc and the Anap Foundation, has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its inability to conduct credible elections in the country.
In his remarks regarding the governorship election in Edo State on September 21, Peterside raised alarms about reported manipulation and rigging that compromised the integrity of the polls.
Speaking on ‘Prime Time’, a programme on Arise Television, on Monday, Peterside said Nigerians deserve an explanation from INEC for the “vote manipulations favouring only one political party”.
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“I think I’ve already gone public, in the sense of after they Edo election. I put out a tweet. I went on to INEC IREV when I heard all the complaints from people who were on the field in Edo,” he said.
“I checked the results sheets hoping that I would conclude people were just making noise over nothing. Unfortunately, some of the results I saw there shocked me.
“In an election there was an average turnout 22% of the roundabout, one particular political party and I’m sure we can all guess which one — was achieving a 98.5% turnout and results in some polling booths.
“In some polling booths, the total number of votes that same political party got was larger than the total number of voters that were accredited.
“I don’t waste my time blaming political parties. They are not the referee, they are not the umpire. We must hold INEC culpable. I got my data from INEC.”
Peterside highlighted that it’s unusual for an election to result in one party receiving more votes than the number of accredited voters.
“I’ve already said that INEC did very well in Osun State; all the results are still there on INEC IReV. However, since the presidential election, they started playing these funny games, and I can even tell you what the game is,” he said.
“Once voting ends, results are uploaded, but glitches occur when the favoured party isn’t doing well. Uploads stop, disappear for hours, then resurface with altered results sheets, changing the equation, as seen in Edo.
He voiced concerns that INEC’s handling of the Edo state election could undermine voters’ confidence in the commission’s ability to conduct credible polls.