THE Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has warned Nigerians against circulating fake election results on the social media, noting that the act is a violation of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines.

Police spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi gave the advise in a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, February 26.

He wrote: “The Nigeria Police has observed the spreading or circulation of alleged/fake elections results on social media and other news platforms, which is contrary to the policy and guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Police has perceived this trend as a calculated attempt to heat up the polity and possibly create post elections chaos.”

Adejobi noted that the Police have perceived the trend as a calculated attempt to heat up the polity and create post elections chaos.

“We regard this as a disservice, unpatriotic, and disinformation. The Nigeria Police hereby warns those who are spreading these alleged/fake election results to desist from such mischievous acts and wait patiently for INEC’s official results, which are authentic and tenable.

“The NPF urges Nigerians to remain calm, and go about their lawful engagements, while those who are billed to go to the polls today are requested to be orderly and law-abiding as we have re-enforced our security strategies for the smooth conclusion of the 2023 General Elections,” he added.

THE Labour Party Presidential Campaign Council (LP-PCC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of massive rigging and falsification of election results across the country against its candidate Peter Obi.

The LP-PCC spokesman Kenneth Okonkwo made this allegations via his Twitter account on Sunday, February 26.

According to him, the results were rigged in favour of the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC).

He wrote: “There’s massive rigging and falsification of results in collation centres against Labour Party and in favour of the defeated criminal APC led by INEC officials. Please Obidients should pile pressure on this man for allowing the delay of uploading presidential election results to the INEC server.”

He also called on international bodies to put pressure on INEC to upload the results of the presidential election on its server.

“This is now the official face of electoral fraud in Nigeria. We should not wait for them to announce the stolen results before we act. Everyone should upload the results they have and be cross checking what INEC is uploading. The international community must put pressure on INEC to upload the presidential results now without delay to avoid unnecessary breakdown of law and order.”

Okonkwo proceed to cursing the attempt to rig the election against his Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi, stating that painful death awaits whoever rigs the election.

“Whoever rigs this election against @PeterObi will die a painful death from the Almighty God and the time starts now. Just watch and see. @PeterObi defeated APC in the National Chairman polling unit, defeated APC in the DG of APC polling unit, defeated APC in Lagos and throughout Nigeria and someone in INEC is telling us nonsense. They will perish in most disastrous circumstances. This is one election they cannot steal by the grace of God,” he added.

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.