YIAGA Africa berates the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC), stressing that announcement of the presidential election in Rivers and Imo States is in sharp contrast with its own records from the polls.
Speaking at a press conference attended by officials of the United Nations, European Union and civil society groups, Dr. Aisha Abdulahi, board member of YIAGA Africa said, “The state level presidential results for Imo and Rivers states are inconsistent with the YIAGA Africa Watching the votes projections for both states.
“For Rivers, INEC announced 231,591 votes for APC on 44.2 percent; 175, 071 votes for the Labour Party (33.4 percent), and 88,468 for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) representing 16.9 percent.
Aisha added, “This is in sharp contrast to the YIAGA Africa estimate for Rivers which are: APC, 21. 7% plus minus 5 percent, for the Labour Party, 50.8 percent plus minus 10.6, PDP, 22.2 percent plus minus 6 percent,” member of the YIAGA’s board, Dr. Aisha Abdulahi, revealed during their post-election statement on the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking further, Aisha said YIAGA’s observers obtained their data through random sampling of several polling units totaling over 1,500 polling units.
For Imo State, Aisha disclosed that though INEC announced 66,406 votes for APC or 14.2%, 360,495 for LP or 77.1% and 30,234 for PDP or 6.5%, its estimate from the state puts APC at 5.1 percent plus or minus 2.3 percent, LP at 88.1 percent (plus or minus 3.8 percent) while PDP had 5.7 percent (plus or minus 2.3 percent).
YIAGA maintained that there were alleged inconsistencies in the presidential election results, particularly from Rivers and Imo states.
According to the research group, it found 8 instances (0.5 percent of polling units) of irregularities in voter turnout where turnout was allegedly over 100%.
It also advised that INEC should probe results from states where announcements were made under duress.
“YIAGA Africa notes that these polling units may have been canceled at the point of collation. YIAGA Africa urges INEC to publish a list of all cancelled polling units,” she said.
In its preliminary recommendations, Yiaga called for a comprehensive audit and investigation to unravel the factors resulting in the delayed upload of election results on INEC’s online portal, saying it is “critical”.
She added that anyone found complicit in sabotaging this “critical aspect of the election should be sanctioned.
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