APC Warns Election Observer Group To Stop Dabbling Into Functions Of INEC

By Ayodele Oni

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has warned one of the Observers groups which monitored last Saturday’s governorship Election in Edo state, Yiaga Africa, to face its job and stop dabbling into the functions of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

APC maintained that “Election observer missions are not election management bodies and should not encroach upon INEC’s statutory authority as the sole body responsible for election management in Nigeria.

“Any attempt to do so would be a clear violation of the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Yiaga Africa had stated in its report that collation of Edo election results was married with irregularities as figures were either increased to favour a party or reduced.

APC issued a warning to Yiaga Africa, a civil society organisation, through its spokesman , Felix Morka, cautioning against undermining the INEC by challenging the results of the recently concluded Edo State gubernatorial election.

In a press statement released on Tuesday the APC criticized Yiaga Africa for allegedly attempting to question INEC’s authority. Morka stated that the group’s actions exceeded its mandate as election observers.

“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. Yiaga Africa is not and must desist from constituting itself as a parallel agency for the declaration of election results.”

The party further accused the civil society organisation of making unfounded allegations about the manipulation of election results, asserting that these claims were not backed by 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.

“Yiaga Africa’s report is a travesty, replete with methodological flaws, politicized observations, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies.

The statement emphasized that election observers like Yiaga Africa must respect INEC’s statutory role and avoid overstepping their boundaries.

He cautioned the organization against creating confusion by presenting a “parallel election process” through unverified and questionable statistical data.

“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.”