The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has addressed a report alleging that Kuroko Health Centre polling unit in Yangoji Ward, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), recorded 1,219 votes for a political party, despite having only 345 registered voters and 213 accredited voters during the Saturday Area Council election.

 

 

The commission stated that the claim of manipulation or falsification is untrue and misleading.

 

Providing clarification on the alleged figure, INEC explained that the discrepancies in the reported results were due to an error by the Presiding Officer while entering the party’s score.

 

 

A statement signed by Aminu K. Idris, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), FCT, confirmed that the matter was investigated.

 

INEC said the Presiding Officer affirmed that, after sorting and counting the ballots, 122 votes were initially recorded for the APC.

 

 

“On tallying everything, she noticed an overshoot by one (1). So, they had to recount the ballots in the open, and that was when she realized that APC should have 121 votes, not 122,” the statement added.

 

“So, she cancelled the ‘2’ at the end and replaced it with a ‘1’ to make it 121. She also corrected the figures in words.

 

“The official result recorded and uploaded from the polling unit shows that the political party in question scored 121 votes, not 1,219 as alleged on social media. This is evident from the clearer version of the result on the INEC IREV.

 

“It was the correct and accurate result that was subsequently duly entered into the collation form EC8B at the Ward Collation (see attached). Thus, the figure used for collation at the Ward and Area Council levels was 121, not 1,219 as alleged, consistent with the number entered at the polling unit.

 

“The current result management architecture deployed by the Commission makes the alleged manipulation technically impossible in the manner described.”