….INEC vows to investigate proven infractions
…Politicians Bought Votes With Bread, ₦5,000 At Edo PUs — CSOs
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has begun the uploading of the results of the ongoing Edo State governorship election on its Result Viewing Portal.
The analysis of activities on the portal showed that 3,902 out of 4519 results had been uploaded, indicating a progress of 86.35% percent.
Recall that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, Anugbum Onuoha, had assured that the governorship election results will be transmitted electronically.
Onuoha gave the assurance during with Arise Television on Saturday.
He stated that said only poor network could impede the transmission of results to the viewing portal (IReV).
He said the commission has also implemented contingency plans, adding that the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) will verify voter identities to determine the precise number at each polling station.
“You know that we have 4,519 pulling units across the 18 local governments, and so far we have deployed 4,622 BVAS to the various local governments. And we also have backup of 660 BVAS,” he said.
“We have trained the operators for the BVAS. They are set. BVAS is to accredit the voters, to know the total number of voters that will vote at that level, that polling unit.
“After that, then the voters will now start voting. At the end of the day, they will count the results, and it will be uploaded to our IReV.
“That is the state we are now. Rest assured that we’ll conduct an election that we can call our own,” he said.
Edo election: INEC vows to investigate proven infractions
The Independent National Electoral Commission INEC on Saturday night said it had received two complaints with regard to the ongoing governorship election in Edo state, promising to investigate and deal with them accordingly.
INEC which disclosed this on its X handle said the complaint had to do with wrong figures entered into polling unit results sheets.
“The Commission’s attention has been drawn to an allegation of wrong figures entered into polling unit result sheets in the ongoing Edo State Governorship election.
“This is the second complaint we have received out of the 4,519 polling units used for the election.
“The Commission will immediately investigate the matter and deal with any proven infraction”, INEC stated.
Recall Salient Times had earlier published a report on how People’s Democratic Party (PDP) demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s Presiding Officer in the Edo State Governorship election, Obozuwa Josephine, for allegedly allocating non-existent votes to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
PDP also demanded the arrest and prosecution of members of the opposition All Progressives Congress APC, involving in the alleged electoral heist.
The party said, “The election result sheet for Osholo Primary School Polling Unit, Weppa in Etsako East Local Government Area shows that whereas 213 voters were accredited, Obozuwa Josephine criminally and fraudulently allocated 352 votes to the APC, 52 to the PDP and one to the LP, giving a total of 406 as votes cast.
“It is highly provocative that the INEC PO Obozuwa Josephine could be so compromised by the APC to audaciously and feloniously allocate unearned 352 votes to the APC above the 213 voters officially accredited in that Polling Unit.
Politicians Bought Votes With Bread, ₦5,000 At Edo PUs — CSOs
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR), has observed voter inducement at polling units (PUs) in the September 21 governorship election in Edo State.
“Situation Room observers reported widespread instances of blatant vote buying and selling across several polling units, despite the huge presence of security personnel,” the group said in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
The statement was co-signed by Yunusa Z. Ya’u, Mimidoo Achakpa and Franklin Oloniju.
“The price of votes ranged from ₦5,000 to ₦10,000 per voter in several locations, including PU08 and 09 Ward 2, Owan-East LGA; PU 02 Ward 2, Etsako-West LGA; and several polling units in Egor, Oredo and Owan-West LGAs.
“In some cases, voters were also induced with food items such as bread,” the group said.
The group, however, acknowledged the arrest of the alleged two vote traders in George Idah Primary School, Ward 2, Oredo Local Government Area.
The Situation Room commended the peaceful conduct of voters and urged them to remain calm throughout the process.
The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), YIAGA Africa, are TAF Africa.
Others are Emma Ezeazu Centre for Good Governance and Accountability (formerly Alliance for Credible Elections, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Kimpact Development Initiative, Democratic Action Group (DAG), Women’s Rights to Education Programme, Joint National Association of Persons with Disability (JONAPWD), DIG Ebonyi, New Initiative for Social Development (NISD), Life And Peace Development Organization (LAPDO), Rural Youth Initiative, Challenged Parenthood Initiative (CPI), Centre for Health and Development in Africa (CHEDA) and Josemaria Escriva Foundation.
