The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the 2023 presidential election results it declared were authentic and official.
INEC said there was no difference between the results gathered by the state returning officers and the one declared at the National Collation Center.
INEC said this in response to a letter directed to the chairman of the electoral body, Mahmood Yakubu, from the Centre for Collaborative Investigative Journalism (CCIJ), claiming that in the televised announcements, INEC reported 1,578 polling units (PUs) where voting was canceled due to irregularities.
The letter dated August 7, from CCIJ, added that the presidential result declared by INEC was different from what was the actual result from polling units.
In his response, Yakubu’s spokesman, Rotimi Oyekanmi, said INEC there are no discrepancies either in the number of registered voters or the presidential election results announced by the Commission.
He said: “There are no differences in the number of polling units and registered voters in the listed states. The total number of polling units and registered voters remains as announced by the Commission.
“The result of an election may be canceled for specific reasons, including violence, over-voting, and refusal to use the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), as stipulated in the extant laws. At the same time, the conditions for making a return when the result of an election is canceled or declared null and void in specific polling units have also been explained in the Electoral Act 2023 and the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections (2022). You are invited to read the full details on our website.
“The results of the 2023 presidential election presented by our 36 State Returning Officers and the Returning Officer for the FCT at the National Collation Centre, Abuja, are official and authentic.
“The figures quoted in your letter purportedly from some local government areas in Imo State are inconsistent with the details/results presented publicly by the Imo State Returning Officer at the National Collation Centre, Abuja.”
