FCT Polls: INEC Dismisses Result Manipulation Claims At Polling Unit In Kwali Council

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed reports circulating online alleging that the Kuroko Health Centre Polling Unit in Yangoji Ward, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recorded 1,219 votes for a political party during last Saturday’s Area Council election, despite having only 345 registered voters and 213 accredited voters.

In a statement signed by the FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Aminu K. Idris, the Commission yesterday described the claim as false, misleading, and a misinterpretation of the actual figures recorded at the polling unit.

INEC explained that the misinformation stemmed from a simple entry error made by the Presiding Officer.

According to the REC, the officer initially recorded 122 votes for the APC after counting, but upon detecting an excess of one vote, the ballots were recounted in the open.

The correct figure was confirmed to be 121. To correct the error, the officer cancelled the last digit and adjusted it accordingly, updating both the numerical and written entries.

The Commission clarified that the official result uploaded to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) clearly shows 121 votes, not the 1,219 claimed on social media.

Party agents who witnessed the process also signed the corrected result, which was the figure entered into the Ward Collation Form (EC8B) and used at all subsequent collation levels.

INEC further noted that its election technologies, the BVAS device and the IReV portal, make such manipulation technically impossible.

The Presiding Officer is required to upload an image of the completed Form EC8A to IReV and enter party scores directly into the BVAS device.

The BVAS system has built-in safeguards that reject entries exceeding accredited voters, flag over-voting instantly, and prevent mathematically inconsistent inputs.

With 213 accredited voters, the device could not have accepted a figure such as 1,219, and any such discrepancy would have been flagged at multiple stages of collation.

The Commission emphasized that none of these red flags occurred because the official score was 121, which matched the BVAS record and all collation sheets. It therefore described the allegation of manipulation as baseless and technically impossible.

INEC reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and credibility, noting that the FCT Area Council election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act and its guidelines.

It urged the public and media commentators to verify claims before drawing conclusions capable of undermining public confidence in the electoral process.

The Commission added that genuine errors are investigated and corrected where necessary, but the current allegation is merely a misinterpretation of a corrected clerical error and does not reflect the official result used during collation.

INEC thanked the public for their interest in the electoral process and encouraged reliance on verified information from official INEC communications.

Recall that the allegation of result falsification at the health centre generated widespread commentary across various platforms during and after the FCT polls.

End.