The Osun State office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) dismissed media reports on Thursday in Osogbo that its Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, claimed there was over-voting during the governorship election held on July 16, 2022. Mr. Adewale Francis, the head of the Department of Voter Education, Publicity, and Inclusivity at the office, stated that the assertion attributed to Agboke was both incorrect and misleading.
Francis emphasized that the attention of the Osun State office of INEC had been drawn to the media reports regarding Agboke’s purported comments on over-voting. He clarified that the Resident Electoral Commissioner had only discussed the effectiveness of the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) as a tool for voter accreditation during his visit to the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba AbdulRasheed Akanbi. Any interpretation suggesting otherwise, he noted, is taken out of context and should be disregarded. He urged the media to verify their sources of information before publication.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that Dr. Agboke visited Oba Akanbi in Iwo on Tuesday, where he explained the functionality of the BVAS machines. However, some media outlets misreported that he stated these machines were used or manipulated by certain INEC staff and politicians to facilitate over-voting during the governorship election in Osun.
Additionally, an Election Petition Tribunal led by Justice Terste Kume nullified the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party on January 27. The tribunal declared that Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress was the actual winner of the election and found that over-voting had occurred in 10 of the 30 local government areas during the election.
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