Yiaga Africa, partners validate INEC’s Anambra governorship election results

A coalition of civil society organisations has declared that the official results of the 8 November Anambra governorship election released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are consistent with its independently verified estimates, affirming the credibility of the electoral process.

However, the coalition, named the Anambra Election Observation Hub, and 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, decried vote buying and voters’ apathy.

The Anambra Election Observation Hub is supported by the European Union under the EU Support for Democratic Governance Project (EU-SDGN).

The coalition said its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) methodology confirmed the integrity of the results announced by INEC.

According to the statement jointly signed by Asmau Maikudi, chairperson of the 2025 Anambra Election Mission, and Samson Itodo, executive director of Yiaga Africa, the findings show that “the official results for the 2025 Anambra governorship election reflect the ballots cast at polling units.”

“Had the official results been changed at the ward, LGA, or state collation centres, they would not have fallen within the Yiaga Africa WTV estimated ranges,” the group stated. “Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that the official results reflect the ballots cast at polling units.”

Election observation and methodology

Yiaga Africa and its partners said they deployed 711 citizen observers across the 21 local government areas of Anambra State through its Watching The Vote (WTV) project.

Out of these, 250 stationary observers were posted to a randomly selected sample of 250 polling units, forming the statistical basis for the PRVT.

The group explained that the PRVT, formerly known as Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT), enables independent verification of official election results by comparing them against data transmitted directly from a representative sample of polling stations.

It described the election day process as “largely peaceful,” commending voters for their discipline and the security agencies for their “professionalism and coordination.”

However, the coalition noted that while polling unit openings showed improvement, “less than half of polling units were operational at the official start time,” indicating that INEC still needs to address persistent logistical challenges.

Condemnation of vote buying

The coalition expressed concern over incidents of vote buying, describing it 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,” it warned, calling on political parties to end the commercialisation of elections and instead “invest in practices that enhance public trust.”

It also raised alarm over the deepening crisis of low voter turnout, particularly among young Nigerians, describing it as a “critical question about democratic legitimacy and the health of Nigeria’s democracy.”

According to Yiaga Africa’s PRVT estimates, voter turnout was between 20.3 per cent and 22.9 per cent, which aligns closely with INEC’s official figure of 21.35 per cent. The group also found that rejected ballots ranged between 1.6 per cent and 2.2 per cent, corresponding with INEC’s figure of 1.89 per cent.

Verification of results

The coalition’s statistical analysis, based on reports from 97 per cent (242 of 250) of the sampled polling units, showed that the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the ruling party in the state, led the race with between 71.2 per cent and 75.4 per cent of votes, consistent with INEC’s official result of 72.37 per cent.

According to the coalition, All Progressives Congress (APC) followed with 17.03 per cent, consistent with the estimated 15.1 per cent to 18.5 per cent range.

Similarly, the Labour Party (LP), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and Young Progressives Party (YPP) all had results that fell squarely within the coalition’s projected margins of error.

“No other political party received more than 2.3 per cent of the vote share,” the coalition stated.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that APGA’s candidate, Charles Soludo, who sought re-election, was declared the winner of the election after winning in all the 21 local government areas of the state.

The vice chancellor of the University of Benin, Edoba Omoregie, who doubles as the INEC Returning Officer for the election, declared Mr Soludo the winner Sunday morning at the state collation centre in Awka, the state capital.

Mr Omoregie, a professor and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said Mr Soludo scored 422,664 votes to defeat his closest challenger and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nicholas Ukachukwu, who polled 99,445 votes. He said the Labour Party candidate, George Moghalu, came third with 10,576 votes, while his counterpart from the African Democratic Congress, John Chuma-Nwosu, claimed the fourth position in the election with 8,208 votes.

Mr Omoregie said a total of 2,788,864 voters registered for the election, but only 598,229 of them were accredited during Saturday’s poll.

He explained that a total of 584,054 valid votes were recorded in the poll, while 11,244 votes were voided out of the 595,298 total votes cast.

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Call for electoral reforms

While commending INEC for improved poll management and credible collation, the coalition urged the electoral body to sustain reforms that enhance logistical efficiency and public confidence.

It reiterated the need for national dialogue on declining civic participation and reforms that would make elections more inclusive, particularly for women, youth, and persons with disabilities.

The statement concluded by reaffirming the coalition’s commitment to promoting transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s elections.

“Yiaga Africa and its partners will continue to deploy evidence-based methodologies to safeguard electoral integrity and strengthen democracy,” it said.