The Director of Programmes at Yiaga Africa, Ms Cynthia Mbamalu, has commended the people of Anambra State for maintaining peace before, during, and after the governorship election.
Mbamalu, who spoke with newsmen in Awka on Monday, also praised security agencies for their professionalism and coordination during the exercise.
However, she expressed concern that less than half of the polling units were operational at the official start time, saying the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must address persistent logistical challenges affecting elections in Nigeria.
Mbamalu decried the reported cases of vote-buying during the election, describing the practice 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,” she said.
“Yiaga Africa calls on political parties to refrain from the culture of commercialisation of elections and invest in practices that enhance trust in the process.”
She also called for a national conversation on Nigeria’s declining voter turnout, particularly among young people, which she said poses a challenge to democratic legitimacy.
According to her, the Anambra Election Observation Hub—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—jointly deployed 711 citizen observers across the state’s 21 local government areas.
She said Yiaga Africa’s Process and Results Verification for Transparency (PRVT), formerly called the Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT), under its Watching The Vote (WTV) project, independently verified INEC’s official results.
“Our estimates show voter turnout was between 20.3 and 22.9 per cent, while INEC’s official figure was 21.35 per cent,” Mbamalu said.
“Rejected ballots were estimated between 1.6 and 2.2 per cent, with INEC’s figure at 1.89 per cent—showing consistency between both results.”
She said the findings confirmed that INEC’s official results reflected the votes cast across all 21 LGAs.
Mbamalu commended Dr Asmau Maikudi, Chairperson of the 2025 Anambra Election Mission, and Mr Samson Itodo, Executive Director of Yiaga Africa, for their leadership and commitment to credible elections.
