Yiaga Africa, an election observer group has appealed to political parties, their supporters and Nigerians across the affected states to remain calm and peaceful in respect of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decision to declare some state governorship elections inconclusive.
The group made the appeal just as the electoral body declared the Adamawa, Imo, Enugu, Abia States elections inconclusive on Monday evening, while presenting its second report on the conduct of March 18, 2023 governorship and House of Assembly elections.
In a statement jointly signed by its Executive Director, Samson Itodo and a member of the Board of Yiaga Africa, Ezenwa Nwagwu, noted that it is only the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that has the legal mandate to announce election results and return candidates as winners
The statement reads, “As INEC continues to collate results, we encourage all citizens, candidates and supporters to remain calm and peaceful, and reject any call for violence. Only INEC has the legal mandate to announce the election results and return a candidate as a winner.
“We urge all stakeholders to respect the commission’s constitutional power and refrain from declaring election results. Yiaga Africa enjoins citizens to remain calm and maintain peace as INEC collates the results.”
The statement added, “Yiaga Africa continues to monitor the collation of results until the final completion. As soon as INEC announces the official results, Yiaga Africa will convene a press conference to share its statement on the accuracy of the election results.”
Itodo noted that the governorship election recorded 216 critical incidents which have ramifications on the credibility of the polls.
He urged INEC to ensure proper oversight of the results collation process and ensure that results declared under duress or in breach of the electoral act, INEC guidelines or manual are reviewed in line with Section 65 of the electoral act.
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