The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr Mutiu Agboke, of INEC's Osun State office denied media claims that there was excessive voting in the state's governorship election on July 16, 2022, on Thursday in Osogbo.
The comment attributed to Agboke about excessive voting was false and malicious, according to Mr Adewale Francis, head of the department responsible for voter education, publicity, and inclusivity in the office.
“The attention of the Osun State office of INEC has been drawn to media reports that the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Dr Mutiu Agboke, purportedly said that there was over-voting during the election.
“The report is incorrect and mischievous.
“The REC only explained the efficacy of the Biomodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) as a device for the accreditation of voters when he visited the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Akanbi.
“Any extrapolation to the contrary is outside the context of the statement and should be disregarded.
“We implore the media to always verify their source of information before publication,’’ he stated.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Dr Agboke visited Oba Akanbi in Iwo on Tuesday and described how the BVAS devices operate.
However, he was quoted by some media outlets as claiming that some INEC officials and politicians used or mishandled the BVAS machines to cast excessively large numbers of ballots during the Osun governorship election.
The election of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governor Ademola Adeleke on January 27 was annulled by an electoral petition tribunal presided over by Justice Terste Kume.
It stated that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola was the election's legitimate victor.
Additionally, it stated that during the election, there was excessive voting in 10 of the state's 30 local government regions.