CIVIL Society group, Yiaga Africa has condemned the results of the Edo State governorship poll conducted on Saturday, saying that it failed the integrity test.
A statement released on Monday and signed by its Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, and its Executive Director, Samson Itodo argued that the 2024 Edo governorship election failed the electoral integrity test due to the lack of post election statement on the transparency in the results collation process, which according to it, led to the manipulation of results.
It said, “While key processes such as accreditation, voting, counting, and recording of results at the polling unit substantially complied with procedures, the results collation process was compromised by the actions of some biased INEC officials in connivance with other actors.
“This manipulation severely undermines the overall integrity of the election.
The group said it concluded after it deployed the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the Edo State governorship election.
The method it said involved 300 stationary and 25 roving observers covering a representative sample of polling units across all 18 LGAs.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the candidate of the Alliance Peoples Congress (APC), Monday Okpebholo winner after defeating his main challengers, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party.
The APC candidate polled 291,667 votes, defeating Ighodalo, who garnered 247,274 votes. Akpata of the LP finished a distant third with 22,763 votes.
