A CIVIL society organisation (CSO), YIAGA Africa, says it will expose the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) if the agency is found guilty of election manipulation and irregularities.
The CSO, a non-profit think-tank promoting democracy and good governance, made the promise on Sunday, February 26, during a press conference in Abuja.
YIAGA Africa held the conference to highlight its findings and observations during the Presidential and National Assembly polls which held on Saturday, February 25..
The chairman of WatchingTheVotes Huseini Abdu, said there were reports of election manipulations prompted by poor functionality of electoral tools such as the BVAS, ballot snatching and thuggery.
The organisation said it “deployed 3,836 observers throughout the country including 3,014 parallel vote tabulation (PVT) observers who deployed early in the morning in pairs to a random, representative statistical sample of 1,507 polling units where they remained throughout the day”.
According to Abdu, the on-the-ground observations of the election analysis team are reliable enough to dispute any uncorrelated reports and results from the polling units by the INEC.
“At this time, YIAGA Africa is able to provide preliminary statistically accurate data on the conduct of the election as of 25 February 2023 – from the opening of polling units through accreditation, voting and counting until the posting of results – in addition.
“We have independent projections of the vote shares that each candidate should receive based on the ballots cast at polling units. If INEC’s results fall within Yiaga Africa’s estimated ranges, then the public, political parties and candidates should have confidence the official results reflect the ballots cast at the polling units. However, if the official results are manipulated at any point in the process we will be able to expose them.
“As soon as INEC announces the official results, YIAGA Africa will convene a press conference to share its own statement on the accuracy of the election results and will publicize these projections,” the group said.
The CSO further urged all Nigerians to be patient as the electoral process is not yet over. It encouraged citizens to remain peaceful while waiting on INEC to announce the official results and refrain from any acts that could incite violence.
“Political leaders should urge their supporters, in particular, to calmly await the official results and take appropriate actions against any party members who engage in violence or incitement to violence,” Abdu said.
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M