SDP Nat’l chairman Shehu Gabam
By Ibrahim Garba
Shehu Gabam, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), has raised serious concerns over what he alleges are significant discrepancies in the just-concluded elections in Kogi State. In a recent statement, Gabam presented damning evidence based on the data obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) IReV (Independent Results Viewing) portal.
According to Gabam, the discrepancies are glaring in multiple local government areas, and he highlighted specific instances from Adavi, Okehi, and Okene. “This is from INEC IReV, directly from their portal. Now, what was there is that Adavi has 28,070 accredited voters, and on the result sheet, you have 88,413. The over-voting based on this is 60,343, representing 85% of inflated votes,” he stated.
Moving on to Okehi, Gabam revealed that there were 29,995 accredited voters, but the result sheet showed 57,678, resulting in an overvoting of 27,909. In Okene, the chairman highlighted that there were 36,168 accredited voters, but the result sheet reflected 122,299, leading to an overvoting of 86,131, constituting 89 percent of inflation.
Part of his words, “Now, In Okene you have 36,168 accredited voters but what is on the result sheet is 122,299 and then you have the overvoting of 86,131 which represents 89 percent. Now the total votes that were inflated are 174,183.”
He emphasized that the total votes inflated across these discrepancies amounted to 174,183. Gabam insisted that if INEC had properly conducted accreditation at every polling unit, the number of accredited voters recorded in their BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) machines should align with the numbers on the result sheets.
He emphasized that any deviation from this requirement should result in the cancellation of the election in the affected result sheet or the entire ward, citing the need to uphold the law.
