After deploying over 500 polling Unit Observers across all 21 Local Government Areas in Anambra state, the Youth Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Advancement under its WatchingTheVote Program has independently verified the Anambra Governorship Election Result released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Just after the announcement of official results by INEC, the head of board, YIAGA, Dr Hussain Abdu revealed in a press conference that the result released by INEC is consistent with WatchingTheVote untainted official figures reported by polling unit observers as announced by the polling officials.
According to Dr Abdu, “based on reports from 98% (244 of 250) sampled polling units YIAGA’s statistical analysis shows that All Progressives Congress (APC) should receive between 20.4% and 24.6% of the vote, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) should receive between 52.2% and 57.8% of the vote; Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should receive between 15.8% and 19.2% of the vote; United Peoples Party (UPP) should receive between 1.1% and 2.3% of the vote while all other political parties should receive less than 1% of the vote.”
“YIAGA is able to provide independent verification of the results because WTV data is based on the parallel vote tabulation (PVT) methodology – the gold standard for citizen election observation”, he said
Furthermore, YIAGA called on the winning candidate and his supporters to be magnanimous in victory. For those candidates who did not win, we urge them to accept the results because they reflect the votes cast. YIAGA calls upon all candidates, all parties and all Nigerians to show political maturity and to maintain the peace.
Also, YIAGA called on INEC to improve distribution of materials and to re-double efforts to train ad-hoc staff particularly around arrival, opening and election day responsibilities. YIAGA further recommended, as WTV had during the Ondo 2016 polls, to improve the ability of the card readers to reliably verify voter fingerprints and ensure voter accreditation procedures are adhered to.
Again, YIAGA thanks the many Nigerians, especially our observers across the state, who volunteered to serve as non-partisan election observers on behalf of all the people of Anambra.
YIAGA commends the dedication of the permanent INEC staff in Abuja and Anambra state who were patient to conclude voting for Anambrarians seeking to exercise their franchise, even late into the evening yesterday. YIAGA also appreciates the collaboration of our development partners and their commitment to Nigerian initiatives to ensure credible elections in our country.
By PRNigeria
