Election observer groups have raised concerns about the transparency of the Independent National Electoral Commission in the ongoing governorship election in Edo State.
The election observer groups made their position known in a statement jointly signed by the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa.
Also, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa added their voices to the report on Sunday.
Credibility Of Process
The statement read: “We, the undersigned accredited civil society organisations observing the 2024 Edo Governorship Election, express concern over the transparency of the ongoing results collation by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group says “reports of disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and the attempts to collate results contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process.
“We acknowledge INEC’s recent statement recognising reports of result mutilation and its commitment to investigate and address any proven violations”.
Security Agencies Undermining Transparency
In light of the issue, the group urged INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and returns in areas where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC regulations, and guidelines.
People Also Read: (LIVE UPDATES) Edo 2024: See Results So Far
“We further call on security agencies to refrain from interference in the collation process and to ensure that accredited party agents, the media, and election observers are granted full access to collation centres.
“We wish to emphasise that the role of security agencies in the election is to safeguard the process and not to create a situation that will undermine the transparency of the process and thus impact negatively on the credibility of the outcome of the election.”
The Edo State election is one of the very few first elections that would be conducted under President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Earlier, we reported that supporters of the incumbent party in Edo, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were protesting at the office of the electoral body.
They claim the umpire had become partisan, skewing the election to aid the ruling APC.
Also, they called on President Tinubu of the APC to look into the matter and intervene.
There appears to be a cloud of litigations brewing in respect of this governorship election in Edo State.
