- -Deborah Akinyosoye
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has raised alarms over widespread over-voting in the recently concluded Edo State Governorship Election held on September 21, 2024.
In a detailed report released by the coalition, it was revealed that over-voting was recorded in more than 370 polling units across the state’s 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs), sparking concerns about the credibility of the electoral process.
The Situation Room, a coalition of prominent civil society organisations including the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI), Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF), and TAF Africa, presented their findings through various observation hubs deployed to monitor the election.
According to the statement signed by Yunusa Z. Ya’u, Convener of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, the coalition underscored that the reported over-voting undermines the integrity of the electoral process.
“Over-voting was reported from more than 370 polling units across the 18 LGAs of the state by our various observers,” the coalition disclosed.
These findings, according to them, highlight significant flaws in the conduct of the election and call into question the legitimacy of some of the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Situation Room also criticised the collation process, noting that it fell short of the transparency required for a fair and credible election.
According to their observation, the collation of results in several LGAs was marked by irregularities, and in some cases, representatives of various candidates were not granted access to observe the collation, a violation of both the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.
“Our observation of the collation process shows that it was not transparent nor open to representatives of the various candidates in some cases,” the statement read.
The coalition further accused INEC officials of not adhering to legal provisions designed to ensure fairness in the collation process, adding that such actions compromised the overall integrity of the election.
Specific concerns were raised about discrepancies between the results announced at polling units and those declared during the final collation in certain LGAs, including Egor, Ikpoba Okha, Oredo, Esan West, and Ovia South-West.
Reports from Yiaga Africa’s Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) and KDI’s Ballot Integrity Project (BIP) revealed significant contradictions between polling unit data and the final tallies, prompting further scrutiny of the results in these areas.
The Situation Room’s report also highlighted inconsistencies in how rules regarding over-voting and the cancellation of ballots were applied across different LGAs.
“It lacks transparency in the application of the provision of the Electoral Act and the INEC Guidelines on over-voting and cancellation of results from polling units,” the coalition emphasised, noting that these irregularities contributed to the growing mistrust in the electoral process.
In response to the reported anomalies, the Situation Room has called on INEC to take immediate action by investigating the conduct of polling officials and collation officers involved in the violations of election guidelines.
The coalition further urged the electoral body to provide clarity on the inconsistencies identified in the results from affected LGAs.
“We call on INEC to investigate polling officials and collation officers involved in the violations of the guidelines on results collation,” the Situation Room stated.
“They also demanded that INEC “clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results from the LGAs identified in the observation reports.”