…raises concern over electoral violence, others

By Kanjo Ebi Joseph|Benin 

A civil society organisation – Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) – says the results of the Edo State governorship election declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on September 22, 2024 were inflated by 6.04 per cent.

INFO DAILY reports that the governorship election was conducted on September 21st, 2024, and at the end of the election, the INEC declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress winner of the gubernatorial election.

But KDI, in a post election assessment statement titled: ‘Addressing Electoral Challenges: Assessing Electoral Security Accountability and Ballot Integrity in the 2024 Edo Governorship Election,’ and made available to INFO DAILY, said “using the Ballot Integrity Project (BIP) methodology,” which according to the body detected “margin of error of ±2%,” it findings “raise critical concerns regarding the integrity of the result management process in the election.”

KDI noted that this discrepancy detected at its end “casts serious doubt on the transparency and
credibility of the collation process.”

The CSO noted: “KDI has consistently noted with concern the long-standing issues in Nigeria’s
result collation process, which remains susceptible to human error and system failures. We are deeply concerned about the usual rituals at the collation centers, where stakeholders’ frequently raised concerns, are often met with the standard response:
“Point noted”.

READ ALSO: CSOs Reject Edo Election Results, Allege Electoral Violations

“No administrative steps are taken to assess the merit or demerit of these concerns. This has been an observable trend from previous elections and the election in
Edo State, despite Section 65 of the Electoral Act empowering INEC to review election results within seven days of their announcement. Additionally, INEC’s own 2022 Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of Elections (Section 99) expounds this administrative power.

“Our BIP analysis shows a 6.04% inflation in the results declared by INEC. Ideally, results
should either decrease during the collation process—due to cancellations prompted by
issues like violence or BVAS bypasses—or remain consistent if no such cancellations
occurred. However, we noticed an increase or addition in the number of votes in some
collation centers.”

“Moreover, while all 18 LGA Returning Officers and Electoral Officers (EOs) reported no
cancellations during the state-level collation, our analysis shows that at least 22 polling units had Form EC40G uploaded on IReV, indicating disruptions or BVAS-related
issues.

“The Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected in these polling units exceed the margin of lead based on the IReV-collated results, raising concerns about the accuracy of the declared outcome. This indicates a high likelihood of a supplementary election in
the 2024 Edo state governorship elections if PU results on IREV were consistent with
what was declared.

READ ALSO: #EdoDecides: Vote Buying Was More Of Systemic Than Open Transactions – CSO

“Additionally, INEC stated that 604,132 voters were accredited, yielding 570,690 valid votes and 13,275 rejected ballots, resulting in a total of 583,965 votes cast. This leads to a discrepancy of 20,167 accredited voters whose votes were omitted from both the valid and rejected vote classifications. If no votes were cancelled, as reported by INEC returning officials from LGAs, this raises a pertinent question: Where are the 20,167 missing votes?

KDI, while urging INEC to thoroughly examine the quality of training provided to its adhoc staff and to investigate any potential instances of sabotage within the process, noted that “an examination of Form EC8A on IREV reveals distinct instances of overvoting in more than 300 polling units across 14 local government areas.”

Vote trading

In the statement, KDI said despite warnings, politicians were seen buying votes openly as observed by its observers field during the election

KDI stated: “In Ward 7, PU 9 -Aiyegunle, by Chief Aliu’s Compund (Akoko Edo LGA), money was exchanged openly, with reports
of a political party distributing N10,000 to voters without restraint. In Ward 12 (Orhionmwon LGA), vote trading was blatant, with APC and PDP engaging in this
practice—buying votes with a minimum fee of ₦5,000 and as high as ₦10,000. In Ward
7, PU 16 (Esan West LGA), political parties were said to have paid up to ₦12,000 to voters.

“KDI’s EDDR recorded isolated actions taken by security agents to deter vote trading. For instance, officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arrested a vote buyer in Ward 5, PU 37 (Oredo LGA), and some political party supporters
were apprehended in Ikpoba Okha LGA for engaging in vote buying.

READ ALSO: Edo Poll: CSO Expresses Concern Over Security Situation, Likely Vote Buying

“In Iguobazuwa East, PU 11 (Ovia South West LGA), security personnel were called in to resolve a dispute over allegations that a political party supporters was distributing ₦5,000 per vote.

“More egregious cases of vote trading were documented in Ward 1, PU 9 (Ovia South West LGA), where vote buying occurred, and in Ward 6, PU 6 (Ovia North East LGA), which saw a well organized vote trading.

“Blatant instances were recorded in Ward 5, PU 18 & 19, as well as Ward 6, PU 14 of Ovia Southwest. Ikpoba Okha LGA saw widespread vote trading, with party agents offering refreshments and distributing materials such as pasta to sway voters.

“Several other incidents of vote trading were recorded across Uhunmwonde, where voters were paid as little as ₦1,000 in some polling units, indicating the pervasive nature of this problem. These developments
underscore the ongoing challenge of vote trading in Nigerian elections, threatening the integrity of the electoral process Issues around Permanent Voter Cards (PVC)”

Electoral violence

The civil society organisation in its assessment statement said it received “over 1,247 reports via calls and messages through its EDDR, with 17 of these reports directly involving
incidents of electoral violence.”

KDI added: “Among the most notable cases was ballot box
snatching, particularly in Ward 10, PU 7 of Etsako Central, where a suspected political party supporter allegedly seized a ballot box upon realizing that his party was likely to
lose.

READ ALSO: Police Arrest Two For Transformer, Cable Thefts In Edo

“Additional reports of ballot box snatching surfaced in Egor LGA. Such actions do not only disrupt the electoral proceedings but also undermine the democratic rights of
voters, necessitating immediate investigations and enhanced security measures to
prevent future occurrences.”

Recommendations

KDI to reduce human error and increase efficiency, INEC “should prioritize the adoption of automated systems for result collation and management.”

According to the CSO, “This will enhance accuracy, minimize delays, and improve the transparency of the election results.”

It added: “Automated systems should be robust, easy to audit, and designed to mitigate potential cybersecurity threats.”

On electoral violence, KDI said: “Electoral stakeholders must intensify efforts to combat vote trading by closely
collaborating with security agencies, civil society organizations, and election
observers.

“Strict enforcement of electoral laws, especially those concerning vote trading, should be a priority, with a focus on prosecuting offenders to send a strong
message that electoral malpractice will not be tolerated.”