Edo Guber: INEC carried out deliberate tampering – Ex-minister, Chidoka alleges
2 years ago 2 min read
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Former Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of deliberately manipulating the outcome of the September 21, 2024, Edo State governorship election.
Chidoka stated this on Channels Television programme, Politics Today, on Friday, where he also announced his resignation as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Speaking on the Edo guber polls, he alleged that the INEC masterminded an elaborate scheme to rig the poll in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It could be recalled that the candidate of the APC, Monday Okpebholo was announced winner of the election, with the PDP candidate, Barr. Asue Ighodalo coming second.
But, according to Chidoka, the PDP was the rightful winner if the valid votes were announced.
Chidoka labelled the election “a sham” and provided data he claimed proved widespread manipulation orchestrated at INEC’s highest levels.
According to him, shocking discrepancies in the election results showed that INEC inflated the number of accredited voters by over 100,000 in 798 polling units.
“Presiding officers recorded 580,000 accredited voters, yet INEC’s backend magically produced 687,000. This wasn’t an accident; it was deliberate tampering,” he alleged.
He added that PDP votes were slashed by 11,665 during collation, while 32,284 votes were illegally added to APC’s tally.
Chidoka further claimed that there were also inconsistencies between INEC’s certified results and the data uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV), stressing that “someone at INEC printed fake result sheets and wrote the outcome they wanted. This isn’t just incompetence; it’s fraud on a massive scale.
“What happened in Edo wasn’t an election, it was a travesty. If this stands, there’s no point in having elections in 2027,” he cautioned.
“The courts must act. INEC has betrayed public trust, and our democracy is on life support,” he warned.
