Stakeholders Urge Nat’l Assembly To Expeditiously Amend Electoral Act
…Says Edo governorship election fails integrity test
By Simeon OSAJIE
Stakeholders have called on the National Assembly to expeditiously amend the Electoral Act to make electronic transmission of results mandatory.
The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Dr. Samson Itodo and Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, made the call during post-election reflection meeting with Edo Civil Society Organization (CSO) leader and media Partners today in Benin City, Edo State capital.
The duo who noted that the September 21st Edo State governorship election failed the integrity rest/standards maintained that there is an urgent need for political actors to change their attitude towards politics as well as stressed the need for fundamental electoral reform to restore public confidence in the electoral process.
According to them, “It is imperative to integrate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) IReV and electronic transmission of results into the electoral legal framework to confer legality on polling unit level results uploaded on the portal.
Aisha Abdullahi of Yiaga Africa who identified absence of transparency in the results collation process, said that the development led to the manipulation of results.
According to her, “While key processes such as accreditation, voting, counting and recording of results at the polling unit substantially complied with procedures, the results collation process was compromised by the actions of some biased INEC officials in connivance with other actors. This manipulation severely undermines the overall integrity of the election.”
Aisha who calls for the immediate investigation and prosecution of polling officials and collation officers who are engaged in results manipulation and flagrant violations of the guidelines on results collation, urges INEC to urgently clarify the inconsistencies in some of the results, especially election results from Oredo, Egor, and Esan West local government areas.
“INEC should issue detailed guidelines for exercising its powers to review declaration and returns made contrary to provision of the Electoral Act and regulations and guidelines. This should include procedures for receiving complaints, timeframe, format and who is eligible to submit complaints,” she added.
On his part, Rev. Fr. Benedict Onwugbenu, Director of JDPC for the Benin Archdiocese, called on INEC to go back and review the Edo Governorship election.
JDPC, which stands for Justice, Development, and Peace Commission, is a Catholic organization dedicated to promoting social justice, development, and peace.
