Benin City, Edo state – A prominent civil society organisation, Yiaga Africa, on Monday, September 23, said the results of the Edo governorship election 2024 were manipulated.
TimesNow.com.ng reports that Yiaga Africa was one of the accredited observers of the off-cycle governorship election in Edo state on Saturday, September 21.
INEC had announced Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Edo governorship election on Sunday, September 22.
Okpebholo won the election with 291,667 votes to defeat his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 247,274 votes.
Olumide Akpata, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP), came a distant third with 22,763 votes.
The APC won the election in 11 of the 18 LGAs in Edo, while the PDP secured victories in the remaining seven LGAs.
But in a fresh statement, Yiaga Africa said it deployed the process and results verification for transparency (PRVT) methodology for the election, involving 300 stationary and 25 roving observers, covering a representative sample of polling units (PUs) across all 18 local government areas (LGAs). In the end, the organisation said it found alterations.
Yiaga Africa’s statement partly reads:
It added:
Read Yiaga Africa’s full statement below:
Earlier, TimesNow.com.ng reported that Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo appealed to residents to remain calm after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Okpebholo as the winner of the state’s 2024 governorship election.
Obaseki, whose preferred candidate Ighodalo, lost, insisted that the election was marred with disregard for processes and the rule of law.
Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at TimesNow.com.ng.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
