The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rebuked civil society organisation Yiaga Africa for questioning the results of the recently concluded Edo State Governorship election.
Yiaga Africa, one of the accredited observers for the election, claimed that the poll failed to meet integrity standards due to widespread manipulation.
In a post-election statement co-signed by Dr Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, the organisation expressed concerns about the transparency of the electoral process.
This statement came after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared APC candidate Monday Okpebholo the winner of the election.
Okpebholo secured 291,667 votes, defeating his closest contenders, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes, and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), who received 22,763 votes.
In response, the APC, through a statement issued by its Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, accused Yiaga Africa of undermining INEC’s credibility by making baseless allegations of result manipulation.
APC argued that Yiaga Africa’s claims were unsupported by concrete evidence, dismissing them as speculative and damaging to the electoral process.
The party further criticised the organization’s report, describing it as flawed, politicized, and riddled with inconsistencies.
According to APC, Yiaga Africa’s assessment lacked methodological rigour and cast doubt on the credibility of its findings.
The statement partly read: “In its jostle for headline attention, Yiaga Africa, one of the many civil society organizations accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is overreaching its election observer mission to second-guess INEC on the result of last Saturday’s Edo state gubernatorial election. INEC is the sole statutory authority for the conduct and declaration of the results of the election. Yiaga Africa is not, and must desist from constituting itself into, a parallel agency for the declaration of election results.
“Election observer missions are not election management agencies and cannot usurp INEC’s statutory authority as the sole election management body in Nigeria. Doing so would constitute a clear breach of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“While election observer missions, like Yiaga Africa, are at liberty to share their observations about the election process with INEC and the general public, however, declaring election results or second guessing results declared by INEC in performance of its statutory duties falls beyond their observation mandate.”
The party criticised Yiaga Africa for casting doubt on the gubernatorial election results using unverified and highly questionable statistical methods, suggesting that this approach is intended to create confusion and give the impression of a parallel election process.
Additionally, the party called on Yiaga Africa to avoid tarnishing its reputation by aligning with acts of political infamy, such as Governor Godwin Obaseki’s illegal midnight raid on INEC offices and Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s unlawful declaration of fraudulent election results.
“The election’s outcome is an unequivocal rejection of the Obaseki administration’s bad governance and endorsement of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visionary policies, which are transforming Nigeria’s economic landscape, strengthening security, and promoting good governance.
“The APC reiterates its immense appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration for ensuring a level playing field, to INEC for its professionalism, and to law enforcement agencies for their diligence and service during the election.
“By their votes, the good people of Edo State were loud and clear in their choice of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the next Governor to lead the state into a new era of peace, unity, people-centred development and prosperity for all.”
The APC urged Yiaga and other dissatisfied parties to seek legal redress through the courts, per established electoral and constitutional processes.
