Anambra Decides: Official results align with PRVT findings, reinforcing electoral integrity -Yiaga Africa

By Editor

The Yiaga Africa has said that the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election aligned with the observations, findings and reports of the Anambra Election Observation Hub.

This is contained in a statement of the election result jointly signed by Dr. Asmau Maikudi, Chair of the Yiaga Africa 2025 Anambra Election Mission; and Samson Itodo, Executive Director, Yiaga Africa on Sunday.

The statement said that the INEC declaration for all 21 LGAs are consistent with the Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) formerly called Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) methodology, to observe the Anambra State governorship election.

“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,” Itodo said.

TheTimes had earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Charles Soludo of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) winner of the Saturday, November 8 governorship election in Anambra State.

Prof Edoma Omoregie, Returning Officer of the election, who is also the Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin, made the declaration at the INEC collation centre in Awka, the state capital, on Sunday morning.

According to the result, Soludo polled 422,664 votes while Nicholas Ukachukwu of the All Progressives Congress, trailed with 99,445 votes.

Also, George Moghalu of the Labour Party (LP) placed third with 10,576 votes, while Jude Ezenwafor of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured 1401 votes to come in at a distant fourth.

The Yiaga Africa report said that the Anambra Election Observation Hub, comprising Yiaga Africa, The Kukah Centre, International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), Nigeria Women Trust Fund (NWTF), ElectHER, and TAF Africa, jointly deployed 711 citizen observers across the 21 LGAs of Anambra State.

It said that this involves the deployment of 250 stationary observers to a representative randomly selected sample of 250 polling units across the 21 LGAs.

“With this methodology, we are able to provide the most timely and accurate information on the governorship election and independently verify if the official results announced by INEC are a reflection of the votes cast at the polling units.

“Generally, the election day process was largely peaceful, and we commend the people of Anambra state for upholding peace during the voting, counting, and result collation process across the state, and 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,” the statement said.

It however, condemn the observed incidents of vote-buying, which characterized the election as a major threat to the credibility of the electoral process.

According to the Yiaga Africa statement, 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.

“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,” Itodo said.

He also said that INEC’s figures for turnout and rejected ballots for the 21 LGAs are consistent with Yiaga Africa WTV PRVT estimates.

He said Yiaga Africa is able to estimate that turnout is between 20.3% and 22.9%, while INEC’s official result is 21.35%.
Similarly, Yiaga Africa estimates that the percentage of rejected ballots is 1.6% and 2.2%, while the official result for rejected ballots is 1.89%. This further lends credence to the official figures announced by INEC.

He said, “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 2.3% of the vote.”