The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused a civil society group, Yiaga Africa of trying to usurp the responsibility of the nation’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Civil Society group in its appraisal of INEC conduct in last off-season governorship election in Edo State won by APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebholo, indicted the electoral body for breaching its own rules and lack of fidelity to the Electoral Act.
A statement signed by the Chairperson of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, and its Executive Director, Samson Itodo, Yiaga Africa lamented that the election failed the integrity test with a number of incidents recorded during the exercise.
Yiaga Africa specifically cited collation process which it alleged was compromised by certain INEC officials.
The report read: “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.”
But the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka in a statement signed and issued to newsmen on Tuesday claimed that the CSO overreached itself by trying to usurp the responsibility of INEC.
The APC maintained that by its indictment of INEC’s role in last weekend’s election, the Yiaga Africa attempted to cast aspersion on the entire process and instigate confusion.
Morka’s statement reads in part:” In its jostle for headline attention, Yiaga Africa, one of the many civil society organizations 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 the outcome of the election. Yiaga Africa is not, and must desist from constituting itself into, a parallel agency for the declaration of election results.
“Alleging that results were manipulated without hard facts and figures but based on some statistical guesswork is a clear disservice to the electoral process. Yiaga Africa’s report is a travesty, replete with methodological flaws, politicised observations, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies, and called its credibility into question.
“Election observer missions are not election management agencies and cannot usurp INEC’s statutory authority as the sole election management body in Nigeria. Doing so would constitute a clear breach of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“While election observer missions, like Yiaga Africa, are at liberty to share their observations about the election process with INEC and the general public, however, declaring election results or second guessing results declared by INEC in performance of its statutory duties, falls beyond their observation mandate.
“Declaring or second-guessing the Edo state gubernatorial result based on unsubstantiated, unverified, highly questionable statistical parameters created by Yiaga Africa for Yiaga Africa is designed to create unnecessary confusion and the appearance of a parallel election process.
“We urge Yiaga Africa to refrain from enlisting itself in the season’s annals of infamy, alongside the likes of Governor Godwin Obaseki and his illegal and sinister midnight invasion of INEC’s offices, and Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s unlawful declaration of bogus election result.
“The election’s outcome is an unequivocal rejection of the Obaseki administration’s bad governance and endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visionary policies, which are transforming Nigeria’s economic landscape, strengthening security, and promoting good governance.
“The APC reiterates its immense appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for ensuring a level playing field, to INEC for its professionalism, and to law enforcement agencies for their diligence and service during the election.
“By their votes, the good people of Edo State were loud and clear in their choice of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the next Governor to lead the state into a new era of peace, unity, people-centered development, and prosperity for all.
“Any disputes, contestations or questions about the election may now be submitted to the courts for adjudication in line with electoral and constitutional norms and recourse mechanisms.”
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