A shocking revelation has emerged detailing the manipulation of results in the just-concluded Edo State governorship election, implicating some key Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials.
It has been revealed that Dr Anugbum Onuoha, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Edo State, and Ann Aderibigbe, Assistant Director of Electoral Operations at INEC’s headquarters in Abuja, orchestrated the forgery of election results, by writing fake numbers in a private residence in Benin City.
The manipulation, which happened late Saturday night into Sunday morning (21st/22nd September), sealed the fate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, while he was cruising to victory before his mandate was stolen through the brazen act.
Sources within INEC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, have revealed how the two officials worked in concert with the All Progressives Congress (APC) to alter the will of the electorate.
Onuoha and Aderibigbe deliberately tampered with results from several local government areas where the PDP had established a commanding lead.
Insiders confirmed that the fake results were written secretly before being moved to the INEC office later that night under the cover of darkness.
Several INEC staffers who were aware of the activities have indicated that Aderibigbe has been frantically working behind the scenes to cover up their tracks.
She has been asking staff members to send her their original results while urging them to keep the data confidential. This has raised concerns that efforts are underway to alter records and sanitize the fraudulent activities that took place.
Reliable sources confirmed that Aderibigbe collaborated with APC operatives who used thugs to cause disorder at polling units within Ikpoba Okha local government area.
The thugs were deployed to create an environment of fear and intimidation, distracting election observers and displacing PDP agents from the scene.
This chaos enabled INEC and APC operatives to move election materials and results out of the local government collation centre under the guise of protecting sensitive materials.
While security forces were distracted by the chaos in Ikpoba-Okha, the tampering of election results continued unabated.
Observers and PDP agents were forcibly removed or intimidated, giving free rein to the conspirators to replace authentic results with falsified figures favourable to the APC.
As the situation in Ikpoba-Okha continued, Dr Onuoha and Aderibigbe quietly returned to the INEC office, where they finalized the entry of forged results into the commission’s system.
This was done to ensure that the falsified documents were seamlessly integrated with the official records. By early Sunday morning, the altered figures were ready to be submitted to the INEC collation centre.
The manipulation was well-calculated, with key figures at INEC and the APC ensuring that PDP’s impending victory was overturned in favour of their preferred candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo of the APC.
Despite overwhelming evidence of PDP’s lead in real-time results viewed on INEC’s IReV portal, the final tally submitted by the electoral body showed the APC winning, much to the confusion and anger of many voters.
One INEC staffer, who requested anonymity due to fears of reprisal, explained: “She [Aderibigbe] has been very aggressive in her requests.
“She is asking us to forward our original results but is also cautioning us not to share them with anyone else. It’s clear she is trying to hide something, and we are worried about the implications.”
This scandal comes at a critical time for INEC, whose reputation as an impartial electoral body has been increasingly questioned in recent years.