Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara state has blamed the unimpressive performance of the party in the last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in the state on “observable flaws” in the conduct of the elections on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, the state chairman of the party, Alhaji Abdulazeez Afolabi, said that the party was yet to either condemn the whole exercise or congratulate those declared winners because of some flaws it had observed in the process.

Afolabi, however, said that outcome of meeting to be held by leaders of the party on the matter would determine whether the party would officially complain to the INEC or approach court to get justice.

The Kwara state chapter of the SDP also appealed to its supporters to remain calm and never to allow the present situation provoke them into violence, saying that the leadership of the party was on top of the situation and shall not rest on its oars until political justice was achieved.

According to the party, some of the issues observed in the conduct of the elections included alleged malfunctioning of Biometric Voters Accreditation System (BVAS),

electronic transmission of results,

creation of additional polling units and late distribution of electoral materials, among others.

“On BVAS, reports from some of our polling agents confirmed that in many polling units (PU), many of electorates were disenfranchised because the BVAS malfunctioned.

“In a particular PU, its function was epileptic by ‘approving’ a few electorates but ‘rejecting’ many. Regrettably, complaints lodged to the INEC officials on duty couldn’t make any difference.

“2. Transmission of Results.

Section 62(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (as amended), is unambiguously clear about the ‘Procedure and Collation of Results’, which mandated the INEC to transmit elections results electronically from polling units onto its website. As we speak, INEC in Kwara State has failed to substantially comply with this provision as it has a backlog of results to be transmitted.

“. Creation of additional polling units.

Many of the electorates were disenfranchised by the problems created by creation of additional polling units which saw the transfer of majority of voters away from their traditional location.

“. Inclusive Accreditation

Many voters were pretended to have been accredited even when the BVAS have not show a green light as demanded by electoral law.

“. Late distribution of electoral materials

In many polling units, materials were delayed for hours by INEC before distribution even when BVAS time was running.

“With the intensity of emotions captured by our party leadership across the state, we want to assure our party men and women as well as our teeming supporters that we shall continue to provide the necessary leadership, support and logistics to ensure that everything legally possible is done to ensure victory in the coming governorship and House of Assembly elections”.