Yiaga Africa asks INEC to clarify status of Imo governorship elections amid protests from opposition parties

Yiaga Africa, a leading election monitoring organization, has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to provide clarification on the status of locations where governorship elections did not take place in Imo State.

In a press release issued today and signed by Dr. Hussaini Abdu, Chair of Yiaga Africa Watching The Vote (WTV) Working Group, the organization expressed concern about the reported non-conduct of elections in certain polling units, raising questions about the electoral process’s transparency and integrity.

According to reports from Yiaga Africa’s WTV initiative in Imo State, elections did not occur in 12% of the sampled polling units.

Key observations by the organization include:

1) In Orsu LGA, elections did not take place in nine (9) sampled polling units, with speculations of possible relocation without informing voters.
2) In Okigwe LGA, elections were not conducted in eight (8) sampled polling units.
3)Oru East LGA reported the non-conduct of elections in eight (8) sampled polling units.
4)Orlu LGA witnessed elections not taking place in seven (7) sampled polling units.
5) Other affected LGAs include Ideato North, Ikeduru, Oru West, and Owerri West.

The organization called on INEC to clarify the voting status in these areass and investigate reports of potential election malpractices, especially in locations where results have been uploaded on the IReV without the proper conduct of accreditation and voting.

Recall that the candidates of the Labour Party, Athan Achonu and the Peoples Democratic Party had earlier rejected the electoral process conducted by INEC in the state.