Mills Jr
The U.S. Mission in Nigeria has called on the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to support the processes to challenge the results of the Saturday gubernatorial election in Edo State.
The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Richard Mills Jr., on Tuesday said the American government also called on the people of Edo to remain calm.
INEC had declared Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the keenly contested Saturday, September 21, 2024 governorship election in the South-South state.
According to the electoral umpire, Okpebholo, 54, secured 291,667 votes to defeat Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 247,274 votes and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP) who came a distant third in the race with 22,763 votes.
“The U.S. Mission in Nigeria commends the people of Edo State for the widely peaceful conduct of gubernatorial elections on September 21 and reiterates calls for calm following the announcement of results,” the Ambassador said.
“We commend Governor (Godwin) Obaseki’s appeal for peace and urge all stakeholders, including INEC, to support established electoral processes and respect legal procedures to challenge results.”
“Transparency and due process are crucial to maintaining public confidence in any democratic system. The United States reaffirms our commitment to supporting free, fair, transparent, and credible elections in Nigeria and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
The main opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and Labour Party, LP, have since rejected the results, claiming they were not a reflection of the votes of the electorates and have threatened to go to court.
Also, expressing concern over the transparency of the collation process, a coalition of accredited civil society organisations made up of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room, Yiaga Africa, Kimpact Development Initiative, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, ElectHER and TAF Africa in a statement on Sunday expressed concern over the transparency of the collation of results by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It said: “Widespread disruptions at ward and local government collation centres, including intimidation of INEC officials and attempts to collate results, contrary to the provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines, raise significant concerns about the credibility of the results collation process.”
“In the light of this, we urge INEC to invoke its powers under Section 65 of the Electoral Act 2022 to review any declarations and returns where results were not declared voluntarily or violated provisions of the Electoral Act and INEC regulations and guidelines.”
