YIAGA Africa: Official results reflect votes cast during Ondo guber poll

YIAGA Africa, a civil society organisation (CSO), says the official results that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced for the Ondo governorship election reflected the votes cast at the polling units.

The organisation’s comment is contained in a report released on Sunday.

Lucky Aiyedatiwa, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared winner of the Ondo state governorship election held on Saturday.

Aiyedatiwa, the incumbent governor of Ondo, won the election in all 18 LGAs with 366,781 votes to defeat his closest rival, Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 117,845 votes.

Yiaga said it deployed process and results verification for transparency (PRVT) methodology to observe the poll, enabling it to independently assess the quality of election day processes and verify the accuracy of the official results announced by INEC.

The CSO said the election process was “relatively calm and orderly, demonstrating citizens’ interest in participating peacefully”.

Yiaga said there was a “significant improvement” in logistics management for the election, adding that “almost every polling station in the state was open, giving eligible voters an equal opportunity to cast their ballot”.

“The election day process was largely peaceful, and we commend the people of Ondo state for their orderliness and the security agents for their professionalism and coordination,” the report reads.

“The PRVT findings reveal that the results announced by INEC for all 18 LGAs are consistent with the PRVT estimates for the governorship election in Ondo state.

“Had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA, or state collation centres, they would not have fallen within the Yiaga Africa WTV estimated ranges.

“Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that the official results for the 2024 Ondo governorship election reflect the ballots cast at polling units.”

Yiaga Africa asked INEC to “take deliberate steps to protect the secrecy of the ballot” in subsequent elections, adding that it was lacking in some units in the Ondo election.

The organisation demanded that electoral offenders arrested during the poll should be handed over to the police for prosecution, noting that security agencies should be “more proactive” in arresting perpetrators of vote buying which was widespread during the election.

“Political parties and candidates should refrain from this persistent and unacceptable culture of impunity and this ugly trend of buying votes and looking for ways to undermine the integrity of the electoral process,” Yiaga Africa said.

The CSO urged Aiyadatiwa to be magnanimous in victory by calling his opponents to display political maturity and uphold peace.