INEC under fire for upholding results despite alleged over-voting

The Independent National Electoral Commission, also known as INEC, has come under fire for continuing to collect the results of Saturday’s governorship election in Kogi State despite instances of alleged overvoting.

The poll took place on Saturday.

Some interested parties claimed that the election results that were presented on the IREV portal showed instances of overvoting in the Okehi, Adavi, and Okene Local Government Areas (LGAs).

Despite this, the Kogi State Collation Officer, Prof. Sani Mohammed, proceeded to validate the results.

Concerns have been raised regarding the democratic process in Kogi State as a result of the scenario, and several stakeholders have demanded an immediate response from the headquarters of INEC in order to address the allegations of anomalies and maintain the legitimacy of the electoral system.

In his response to the news, the candidate for governorship of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Murtala Ajaka, highlighted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had invalidated the results in Bayelsa because of incidences of overvoting, and he called the headquarters of the Commission to interfere in Kogi.

During a meeting with the press, Ajaka made the following statement: “We are being punished for being obedient to the law.” In our own local government, we had every chance to inflate the result, but we chose to err on the side of legality instead.

“When people are oppressed, we are left with no choice but to defend ourselves because we have no other option. Given the present trajectory, if this pattern continues, we will be obligated to safeguard our democracy, and we are dedicated to doing so if providence enables it. Given the current trajectory, if this pattern continues, we will be compelled to protect our democracy.

In the meantime, the candidate for governor of the Peoples Democratic Party (SDP), Senator Dino Melaye, has called for the election that took place on November 11 to be cancelled. He cites significant irregularities that he believes to be unparalleled in the history of the state as the reason for his demand.

At a news conference held on Sunday in Lokoja, the state capital, Melaye voiced dismay at the anomalies that plagued the election on Saturday throughout all three Senatorial Districts. He described the electoral process as “shameful and unhealthy” when speaking to the journalists present at the press conference.

Melaye brought attention to particular cases within the five local governments that make up the Central senatorial district in which, according to his assertions, elections did not take place. He asserted that manual accreditation was carried out, that the Biometric Verification Authentication System (BVAS) was not employed, and that result sheets were generated even before the accreditation began, with evidence of this circulating in the media. He also claimed that the accreditation was handled in a manner that did not comply with the requirements.

He stated, “It is shameful that this is what our democracy has descended to,” while accusing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of being untrustworthy, biassed, and lacking neutrality.

Melaye claimed that officials from INEC and members of the youth corps were discovered to be in possession of prepared result sheets before to the beginning of the voting process. In addition to this, he asserted that a youth corps member who was in possession of a fabricated result as well as one million naira was detained in the Kogi Central area.

In a similar vein, Kogi activist Austin Okai has slammed INEC, describing the decision to disclose results among infractions as an attempt to install a governor without the mandate of the people. Okai made this statement in response to INEC’s decision to announce the results despite the violations. Okai made his case for the complete nullification of the results by showing statistics from the Adavi, Okehi, and Okene Local Government Areas (LGAs), all of which, in his view, point to significant overvoting.

Okai questioned how the INEC could continue to compile the poll results after admitting that there were several irregularities. According to him, the violation can be seen throughout Kogi Central.

“The outcome that has been cooked cannot be accepted. “Complete and utter cancellation is the solution,” Okai said on his Facebook wall.