Chinedum Elekwachi
Yiaga Africa has expressed disappointment over incidents of vote-buying that characterized last Saturday’s governorship election in Anambra state.
The group described the ugly trend as a major threat to the credibility of the electoral process.
In a statement jointly signed by Chair of the 2025 Anambra Election, Dr. Asmau Maikudi and Executive Director Mission, Samson Itodo called on political parties to refrain from the culture of commercialization of elections in Nigeria.
He urged them to rather invest in practices that enhanced trust in the elections.
He said, “We condemn the observed incidents of vote-buying, which characterized the election as a major threat to the credibility of the electoral process.
“This practice promotes electoral corruption, erodes equality in election competition, and undermines the legitimacy of electoral victory.
“Yiaga Africa calls on political parties to refrain from the culture of commercialization of elections in Nigeria and invest rather in practices that enhance trust in the elections.
National Conversation
“In addition, Yiaga Africa emphasizes the urgent need for a national conversation on the deepening crisis of low voter turnout.
“The persistent decline in turnout, particularly among youth, raises critical questions about democratic legitimacy
and the health of Nigeria’s democracy.
Describing election day process as largely peaceful, Yiaga Africa hailed the people of the state for upholding peace during the voting, counting and result collation process across the state.
The group also commended the security agents for their professionalism and coordination.
“As noted previously, the election recorded a marked improvement in the opening of polls.
“However, the fact that less than half of the polling units were operational at the official start time indicates INEC needs to continue to address the persistent logistical bottlenecks that plagued Nigeria’s elections.
“INEC’s figures for turnout and rejected ballots for the 21 LGAs are consistent with Yiaga Africa,” it stressed.
The group urged governorship contestants, parties, and voters to have confidence that official results for the election reflected the ballots cast at polling units, stressing that the results fell within the estimated ranges.
Statistical analysis
“Based on reports from 242 of 250 (97%) sampled polling units, Yiaga Africa’s statistical analysis shows that the All Progressives Congress (APC) should receive between 15.1% and 18.5% of the vote, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) 71.2% and 75.4%, Labour Party 0.9% and 1.7%, and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 0.1% and 0.3%, and no other political party should receive more than two-thirds of the votes
“Therefore, the PRVT findings reveal that the results announced by INEC for all 21 LGAs are consistent with the PRVT estimates for the governorship election in Anambra State.
“Had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA, or state collation centers, they would not have fallen within the Yiaga Africa WTV estimated ranges,” the group added.
