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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rejected claims that results were manipulated at the Kuroko Health Centre polling unit in Yangoji Ward of Kwali Area Council, following last Saturday’s Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by the FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, Aminu K. Idris, the commission described as false and misleading a viral claim that a political party scored 1,219 votes at the polling unit.
“The official result recorded and uploaded from the said polling unit shows that the political party in question scored 121 votes, not 1,219 as alleged on social media,” the statement read.
INEC explained that the clarification became necessary after reports circulated online suggesting that the polling unit—having 345 registered voters and 213 accredited voters—produced a result that was mathematically impossible.
According to the commission, the confusion stemmed from a minor human error by the presiding officer during the counting process. After recounting the ballots in the open, the officer initially entered “122” for the party before correcting the figure.
“She cancelled the ‘2’ at the end and slotted in a ‘1’ in front of the cancelled ‘2’ to make it 121. She also corrected the figures in words,” the INEC statement said.
The electoral body stressed that its technological safeguards, including the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal, make the alleged manipulation impossible.
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“The number of accredited voters was 213. The score entered into the BVAS for the party concerned was 121. The total votes recorded were consistent with accreditation figures,” the statement added.
INEC further noted that any attempt to input a figure such as 1,219 would have been automatically flagged and rejected by the system.
The commission assured Nigerians that all results used for collation at the ward and area council levels aligned with BVAS records and that the FCT elections were conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and INEC guidelines.
“The Commission urges members of the public and media commentators to verify information with official records before drawing conclusions capable of eroding public confidence in the electoral process,” the statement said.
Reaffirming its commitment to transparency and accountability, INEC maintained that while genuine errors can occur, they are promptly addressed.
“However, the present allegations are based on genuine errors which were immediately corrected; the misinterpretation of figures does not reflect the official record used in collating and declaring the results,” the statement concluded.
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