The All Progressives Congress (APC), has frowned at Yiaga Africa’s report on the Edo governorship election claiming that the poll’s outcome did not pass an integrity test.
The APC equally found the report to be full of biassed views and methodological errors.
In a statement released on Tuesday by National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the APC asked Yiaga Africa “to refrain from enlisting itself in the season’s annals of infamy”.
“Yiaga Africa’s report is a travesty, replete with methodological flaws, politicised observations, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and called its credibility into question,” the statement partly read.
Recall that on Monday, Yiaga Africa, one of the authorised observers for the governorship election conducted in Edo state last Saturday, declared that the poll had failed the integrity test and alleged that INEC officials and security forces stationed there had widely manipulated the results before the winner was declared.
The APC while reacting to the report highlighted that Senator Monday Okpebholo was duly elected by the people of Edo State to be the next governor, ushering in a new age of harmony, peace, people-centred development, and prosperity for all.
The party stated that it was detrimental to the democratic process to claim that results were manipulated in the absence of concrete evidence and instead relied on statistical guesswork.
“In its jostle for headline attention, Yiaga Africa, one of the many civil society organisations accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is overreaching its election observer mission to second-guess INEC on the result of last Saturday’s Edo state gubernatorial election.
“INEC is the sole statutory authority for the conduct and declaration of results of the election. Yiaga Africa is not, and must desist from constituting itself into, a parallel agency for the declaration of election result.
“Alleging that results were manipulated without hard facts and figures but based on some statistical guess work is a clear disservice to the electoral process.