In response to allegations of result manipulation in the Edo governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) criticized Yiaga Africa, asserting that the election observer is not a parallel election authority.
The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka, emphasized that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the only statutory body responsible for conducting and declaring election results in Nigeria. He dismissed Yiaga Africa’s claims of manipulated results as lacking factual support and based merely on statistical assumptions, calling it “a clear disservice to the electoral process.”
Morka labeled Yiaga Africa’s report a “travesty,” citing methodological flaws, politicized observations, and inaccuracies, which he argued undermined the organization’s credibility. He stated, “Election observer missions are not election management agencies and cannot usurp INEC’s statutory authority,” stressing that any attempt to do so would violate the Electoral Act and the Nigerian Constitution.
He criticized Yiaga Africa for attempting to declare or second-guess the official election results based on unverified statistical data, accusing the organization of creating confusion and the illusion of a parallel election process.
Morka urged Yiaga Africa to avoid aligning itself with what he termed “the season’s annals of infamy.” He asserted that the election results reflected a rejection of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration and endorsed President Bola Tinubu’s transformative policies aimed at improving Nigeria’s economy and governance.
Yiaga Africa had previously stated that their statistical analysis indicated inconsistencies in the results announced by INEC, projecting that the APC received 51.1% of the votes, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) received 43.3%, and the Labour Party garnered 4.0% based on reports from 287 of 300 sampled polling units.