INEC Has Not Announced Results” – Edo REC Warns Against Posting Results on Social Media

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has clarified that it has not yet received any official results from the governorship election held in Edo State. The commission emphasized that the results are still being collated at the ward level and have yet to reach the local government areas (LGAs) before moving to the state collation center.

Speaking with Channels Television, Edo State INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Anugbum Onuoha, stated, “I cannot categorically tell you when we will announce the results in the state. As they come, we will announce.” He further stressed that no results have been submitted from any of the 18 LGAs in the state.

Onuoha also issued a warning to social media users, cautioning them against spreading unofficial results. “Those who are publishing results, it is not their duty to announce results. INEC has not announced any results. The law is clear on who can announce them,” he said. He urged the public to ignore unverified information being circulated online, emphasizing that the returning officer, not INEC officials or social media, will declare the official results.

In the meantime, INEC has uploaded over 90% of the polling unit result sheets from the election onto its official Result Viewing Portal (IReV). Out of 4,519 polling units in the state, 3,995 results had been uploaded as of 7:40 pm on Saturday, September 21, 2024.

The election in Edo State is part of the off-season governorship polls, with voters choosing a successor for Governor Godwin Obaseki, whose two-term tenure ends on November 12, 2024. Edo is among eight Nigerian states where governorship elections are held outside the general election cycle due to legal and judicial rulings.

According to INEC, Edo State has a total of 2,629,025 registered voters, of which 2,249,780 (85.57%) possess Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) and are eligible to vote in the election.

Seventeen candidates are competing for the governorship, but analysts believe the contest is mainly a three-way race between Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP).