A non-profit organization; Athena Centre has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of misconduct during the September 21 Edo State governorship election.
In their review of the election that saw Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) declared governor of the South-South state, the organization claimed the process was compromised.
Okpebholo received 291,667 votes, defeating his closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who garnered 247,274 votes.
Osita Chidoka, founder of Athena Centre and former Aviation Minister, presented the Centre’s findings regarding the Edo State election on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, emphasizing that there is substantial evidence of systemic rigging.
“The evidence of systemic rigging observed in this election is so substantial that we cannot call the results,” Chidoka said on the programme.
“The evidence of systemic rigging is so substantial that we think that this election should not be allowed to stand. If this stands, then there is no election in 2027.”
He said he is shocked that an institution like INEC would put its reputation at stake for the purpose of an election.
The former minister alleged that there was a lack of transparency in the election and discrepancies in voter accreditation.
He also alleged incidences of over voting, and manipulation at ward collation centres and that the BVAS accreditation record was not transmitted to INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV).
He stated that 153 polling units were not accounted for which means there were no results from those polling units.
He concluded that the Edo State election cannot be deemed credible because it failed to meet basic integrity standards due to substantial interference in the electoral process by the umpire.
Watch the video below;
[CHANNELS TV]
