As official results are awaited in the ongoing Edo State governorship election, fresh evidence suggests that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may have misled the public regarding the status of the results from Etsako West Local Government Area.
While INEC maintains that it possesses results from all 192 wards in Edo State, it has now come to light that results from Etsako West, which were neither collated nor uploaded to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), were lost following an attack on the collation centre last night.
This development has raised serious questions about the transparency of the process and INEC’s credibility.
INEC had asserted that it had secured the results from all 192 wards across the state, including Etsako West. However, multiple eyewitness reports and accounts from election observers paint a different picture.
According to observers present at the Etsako West collation centre, the situation spiraled into chaos when an armed group stormed the location late last night, disrupting the collation process.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of violence and panic, during which sensitive election materials, including ward-level results, were either destroyed or seized by the attackers.
A source familiar with the situation revealed: “The results for Etsako West had not even been collected, let alone uploaded on IReV. How INEC is claiming they have those results is beyond comprehension. They were lost in the attack.”
A senior electoral official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that INEC has been struggling to recover from the attack.
“It’s true. The results from Etsako West are missing, and there’s no way we can recreate them without raising serious integrity issues. Yet, our bosses are presenting a façade that everything is under control,” he said.
The revelation directly contradicts INEC’s earlier assurance that all 192 ward results were in their possession.
Civil society organizations have also questioned the integrity of the process.
A spokesperson for one of the election observers said: “This is a clear case of misinformation. INEC needs to come clean. If they have lost the results, they should admit it instead of concocting figures that were never officially collected or uploaded.”
In light of the revelations, there have been mounting calls for an independent investigation into the events surrounding the attack on the Etsako West collation centre.
Various civil society organizations are demanding that INEC suspend the announcement of results until the situation is thoroughly investigated.
“INEC must prioritize transparency over expediency,” said one prominent election monitor.
“Rushing to announce results without resolving these glaring inconsistencies will only serve to delegitimize the entire process. The people of Edo deserve a free and fair election, not a hastily compiled set of questionable figures,” the group stated.
As INEC continues to face mounting pressure, the fate of the Edo governorship election hangs in the balance.