The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has dismissed claims circulating online that 1,219 votes were recorded for the All Progressives Congress (APC) at Kuroko Health Centre polling unit in Yangoji Ward, Kwali Area Council, during the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council election.
In a statement, the Commission described the allegation as misleading, attributing the confusion to a clerical error by the Presiding Officer.
According to INEC, the matter was immediately investigated. The Presiding Officer explained that after sorting and counting the ballots, 122 votes were initially recorded for the APC. However, during final tallying, an overcount of one vote was discovered.
A recount was conducted openly at the polling unit, after which the correct figure of 121 votes was confirmed. The officer then corrected the entry by cancelling the “2” and adjusting the figure to reflect 121, including correcting the number in words.
INEC emphasized that the official result uploaded from the polling unit recorded 121 votes — not 1,219 as alleged. Party agents present signed the result sheet, and the same figure was used at both the Ward (Form EC8B) and Area Council collation stages.
The Commission further stated that its technological systems — the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal — contain built-in safeguards that prevent over-voting and automatically flag inconsistencies.
“If, as alleged, a figure of 1,219 votes had been entered, the BVAS device would have rejected the entry instantly, and the discrepancy would have been flagged at multiple collation stages. None of these occurred because the official recorded score was 121, not 1,219,” INEC said.
The Commission reassured the public that the IReV portal mirrors results uploaded directly from polling units and remains a transparency mechanism in Nigeria’s electoral process.