YIAGA Africa, JDPC, Others Demand Review Of 2024 Edo Guber Poll

Following what they described as unacceptable unwholesome acts that undermined the integrity of the Edo State Governorship election, some critical stakeholders in the management of elections in the country, have a again strongly canvassed for the review of the election.

YIAGA Africa, one of the leading election monitors in the country, particularly condemned what it described as acts of violence and disruption of voting and results collation process by political thugs and hoodlums.

YIAGA Africa particularly noted the quantum of violence directed at voters and election officials, thus extended its sympathies to citizens and polling officials who it noted suffered severe injuries and loss of valuable properties due to the attacks and violence.

Standing on its earlier position, YIAGA Africa in collaboration with the Justice Development and Peace Centre (JDPC), Catholic Archdiocese of Benin City, on Thursday, October 10, 2024, insisted that the Edo Governorship election was seriously compromised.

In a post-election statement on the September 2024 Edo Governorship election titled; “Edo State Governorship Election Fails the Integrity Test/Standards”, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi and Samson Itodo, Chairperson of the 2024 Edo Election and Executive Director of YIAGA Africa respectively, said the review is very important and necessary for future election.

They stressed that there is an urgent need for political actors to change their attitude towards politics and observe and adhere to the need for fundamental electoral reform to restore public confidence in the electoral process.

Abdullahi particularly identified the complete lack of transparency in the process of collation of results which led to the manipulation of results.

In the words of Abdullahi; “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 undermined the overall integrity of the election,” she said.

Speaking in turn, Rev. Fr. Benedict Onwugbenu, Director of JDPC for the Benin Archdiocese, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) urgently need to go back and review the outcome of the Edo Governorship election in order not to erode the confidence of the people in election process, stressing that the Edo election must not be allowed to stand.