Civic organisation Yiaga Africa has affirmed that the official results of the just-concluded Anambra State governorship election, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), align with findings from its Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT) exercise.
In its post-election assessment, the group said the election outcomes were independently verified by the Anambra Election Observation Hub, a coalition of civil society organisations that monitored the poll across the state.
In a statement on Sunday signed by the Chair of the 2025 Anambra Election Mission, Dr Asmau Maikudi, and Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, the group stated that the consistency between its PRVT estimates and INEC’s official figures reinforces confidence in the credibility and transparency of the electoral process.
Using the PRVT methodology, the statement pointed out that over 700 citizen observers were deployed across all 21 council areas of the state, adding that observers tracked election processes and results from a statistically representative sample of 250 polling units.
The statement explained that the PRVT approach enables an independent and data-driven verification of official results to determine whether they truly reflect votes cast at the polling units.
“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.
“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. Because the official results fall within the estimated ranges, governorship contestants, parties, and voters should have confidence that the official results for the 2025 Anambra governorship election reflect the ballots cast at polling units,” the statement reads.
The civic group commended the people of Anambra State for conducting themselves peacefully during the exercise, noting improvements in the conduct of the polls while highlighting areas that still require urgent attention.
Yiaga Africa also lauded voters, security agencies, and electoral officials for maintaining calm and order throughout the voting, counting, and result collation processes across the state. The group particularly praised the professionalism and coordination of security personnel, describing their conduct as instrumental in ensuring a generally peaceful election day.
It, however, pointed out that less than half of polling units opened at the official start time, despite noticeable improvement compared to previous elections. The organisation urged the electoral body to tackle the logistical bottlenecks that continue to hinder the smooth commencement of voting in Nigeria’s elections.
The group expressed deep concern over incidents of vote-buying, describing them 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,” Yiaga Africa stated.
Calling on political parties to end the commercialisation of elections, the organisation tasked them to invest in initiatives that strengthen public trust and transparency in Nigeria’s democratic process.
Yiaga Africa also emphasised the need for a national conversation on low voter turnout, which it described as a growing crisis threatening the legitimacy of democratic governance. The group noted that youth disengagement remains particularly troubling and called for renewed efforts to rebuild public confidence in elections.
“The persistent decline in turnout, especially among young Nigerians, raises serious questions about the health of our democracy,” the statement warned.
