1,219 or 121 votes? INEC reacts to ‘manipulation’ of result sheets in FCT election

By Emmanuel Oloniruha

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to alleged to the viral claim of alleged manipulation of one of result sheet of Kuroko Health Centre polling unit in Yangoji Ward, Kwali during Saturday’s FCT Area Council election.

The opposition, including some media commentators had cited the alleged manipulation of the input in the result sheet as evidence that the FCT Area Council election was rigged in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The opposition parties alleged that 1,219 votes were recorded for APC, though the polling unit has only 345 registered voters, while only 213 were accredited to vote during the election.

But FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aminu Idris, described the claim by the opposition and a section of the media as false and misleading.

Contrary to the claim of the opposition, Idris clarified that the official result showed the APC scored 121 votes, not 1,219 as circulated on social media.

“The Commission categorically states that the claim of manipulation or falsification is untrue and misleading,” he said.

He explained that a clerical error occurred when the presiding officer initially recorded 122 votes for the party.

“After sorting and counting, she recorded 122 for APC.

“On tallying everything, she noticed there was an overshoot by one,” he said.

He said ballots were recounted openly, confirming the correct figure was 121, not 122.

“She cancelled the two and inserted one to reflect 121. She also corrected the figure in words,” he said.

Idris said the corrected result was uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) and used for collation.

He noted party agents present signed the result sheet, affirming its accuracy.

“It was the correct result that was entered into Form EC8B at ward collation,” he said.

He stressed that 121 votes, not 1,219, were used at ward and area council collation stages.

Idris said the commission’s result management system made the alleged manipulation technically impossible.

He explained that presiding officers must upload Form EC8A to IReV and enter scores directly into the BVAS device.

“The BVAS system performs validation checks to ensure total votes do not exceed accredited voters,” he said.

He added that over-voting is automatically flagged and cannot be finalised.

“In this case, accredited voters were 213, and the score entered for the party was 121,” he said.

He maintained that total votes recorded were consistent with accreditation figures and collation records.

“If 1,219 votes had been entered, BVAS would have rejected it instantly.

“The discrepancy would have been flagged at multiple collation stages. None of these occurred,” he said.

Idris described IReV as a transparency tool mirroring results uploaded directly from polling units.

He said BVAS-driven validation prevents over-voting and numerical manipulation at source.

“The result relied upon for collation was consistent with BVAS data,” he said.

He added that other results of FCT election circulating online were cross-checked in line with the Electoral Act before collation.

Idris said the FCT election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.

He urged the public and media to verify information with official records before drawing conclusions.

“INEC remains committed to transparency, accountability and continuous improvement.

“Where genuine errors occur, they are investigated and addressed,” he said.

Idris assured that INEC would continue safeguarding electoral integrity through technology and legal compliance.

He advised citizens to rely on verified information from official INEC communications.

“For further inquiries, please contact the INEC FCT Office,” he said.

(NAN)