The Yiaga Africa, a monitoring observer group, has lauded the credibility of the Saturday’s governorship election in all 18 local government areas of Ondo State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the candidate of the All Progressives Party( APC), polled 366,781 votes to defeat his closest contender, Mr Agboola Ajayi of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) who got 117,846 votes.
The group explained that its statistical analysis revealed that the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) in all the local government areas were consistent with the group’s process and results verification for transparency (PRVT).
Speaking on the overall conduct of the election, Mr Ezenwa Nwagwu, the Chairman of the 2024 Ondo Election Mission, said this on Sunday in Akure.
Nwagwu said that had the official results been changed at various levels,the results would not have fallen within the estimated ranges of the group.
According to him, because the results fell within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, political parties and voters should have confidence that the election reflect the ballots cast at polling units.
He, therefore, recommended that INEC should take delicate steps to protect the secrecy of the ballot and enforce its guidelines in the subsequent elections.
The chairman also asked INEC to ensure that the Biomodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was consistently updated and upgraded to ensure optimal functionality.
Nwagwu enjoined INEC to train its ad-hoc officials properly on disability provisions for each election, stating that such training would ensure that voters with disabilities were properly catered for.
He asked security agencies to prosecute election offenders arrested during the Saturday election, urging security agencies to be more proactive in arresting and prosecuting perpetrators or voter inducement and vote buying.
The chairman, therefore, urged Aiyedatiwa and all APC supporters to be magnanimous in their victory, asking all political parties and Nigerians to display political maturity and uphold peace.
He commended the media, other election observer organisations and international community for their support and solidarity in the election, promising that Yiaga remained committed to promoting credible elections and integrity of Nigeria’s electoral process
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