The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, against undermining the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by questioning the results of the recently concluded Edo State gubernatorial election.
In a press statement issued on Tuesday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, the APC attacked Yiaga Africa for allegedly seeking to question INEC’s authority.
Morka described the group’s activities as exceeding their authority as election monitors.
“Yiaga Africa is overreaching its election observer mission by second-guessing INEC on the result of last Saturday’s Edo State gubernatorial election.
“INEC is the sole statutory authority for the conduct and declaration of election results. Yaga Africa is not and must desist from constituting itself as a parallel agency for the declaration of election results,” Morka stated.
The APC also accused the Yiaga Africa of making baseless allegations regarding the manipulation of results, stating that these claims lacked supporting evidence and were based on speculative data.
“Alleging that results were manipulated without hard facts and figures but based on some statistical guesswork is a clear disservice to the electoral process. Yaga Africa’s report is a travesty, replete with methodological flaws, politicised observations, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies,” Morka added.
He also cautioned that election observers, such as Yiaga Africa, should respect INEC’s statutory duty and desist from interfering with the commission’s obligations.
Morka also warned Yiaga Africa against causing confusion by giving the appearance of a “parallel election process” using unproven and doubtful data parameters.
He warned, “Election observer missions are not election management agencies and cannot usurp INEC’s statutory authority as the sole election management body in Nigeria.
“Doing so would constitute a clear breach of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Declaring or second-guessing the Edo State gubernatorial result based on unsubstantiated, unverified, and highly questionable statistical parameters created by Yiaga Africa is designed to create unnecessary confusion.”
He emphasized the party’s belief that the election results represented the will of the Edo people, who voted for Senator Monday Okpebholo as their next governor.
“By their votes, the good people of Edo State were loud and clear in their choice of Senator Monday Okpebholo as the next governor to lead the state into a new era of peace, unity, people-centred development, and prosperity for all,” he said.
