Group seeks prosecution of INEC officials over ‘results forgery’ in Edo guber poll

The TAP Initiative, a civil society organisation (CSO), has asked the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate and prosecute some ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for allegedly forging results during the Edo state governorship election.

In a petition written to the ICPC, the TAP Initiative alleged that the electoral officials forged signatures and altered voter numbers to influence the outcome of the election.

The CSO argued that the acts violated section 26 of the ICPC Act, which prohibits public officers from using their positions to confer undue advantages.

“On election day, we accessed results from the INEC result viewer (IReV), which houses election results uploaded directly from polling units across the state,” the petition reads.

“The results obtained from the IReV portal corresponded with those collected by election observers at the polling units, bearing the signatures of polling unit agents and presiding officers.

“However, after voting concluded, INEC announced results that differed from the original data obtained from the IReV.

“A comparison between the result sheets from IReV and the certified true copies issued by INEC revealed discrepancies.

“Although the serial numbers, polling units, and wards matched, the results differed. In some cases, the number of registered voters was altered, and the signatures of the presiding officers were forged, with the signatures of polling unit agents either absent or also forged.”

The CSO said a forensic examination conducted by a South African graphologist “confirmed that the certified true copies issued by INEC were predominantly authored by a single individual”.

The group asked the ICPC to investigate INEC officials involved in the election, including Mahmood Yakubu, the commission’s chairman.

Martin Obono, TAP Initiative’s executive director, said “it is regrettable that INEC is involved in institutional electoral fraud”.

“INEC ought to be a gatekeeper, but it is now involved in direct rigging and changing the will of the people,” Obono added.

“We will take a step further to write the United Kingdom, United States of America, European Union, and other foreign donors to stop funding elections in Nigeria since they are being defrauded by the electoral body.”

Obono added that the organisation would not hesitate to seek fiat from the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) to file a charge against INEC if ICPC fails to act on its petition.

The Edo state governorship election was held on September 21.

INEC had declared Monday Okpebholo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the poll after scoring 291,667 votes. Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was second with 247,274 votes.