On April 27, 2025, Kenneth Okonkwo, a former spokesperson for the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign, accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of manipulating the 2023 presidential election results to favor the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Bola Tinubu, over LP’s Peter Obi. Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Okonkwo claimed that the results attributed to Obi were “written” and “allocated” by INEC, alleging that Obi won over a million votes in Lagos State and that results in Rivers State were altered to favor APC, per Naija News, Daily Post, and TheCable.
Okonkwo highlighted INEC’s failure to upload polling unit results to its Result Viewing Portal (IReV) as legally required, noting that, over two years later, the omission persists, undermining transparency. He stated, “There is no explanation to it till today. Recall that I said that they wrote the results. The result given to Obi was allocated to him, that’s written. Go to Rivers State.” When reminded of the Supreme Court‘s October 26, 2023, ruling affirming Tinubu’s victory, Okonkwo argued, “The court is not telling you they wrote, or they did not write. The court is telling you, ‘you did not produce the evidence to show substantial evidence that they wrote’. Where will you bring the evidence?”
He further criticized INEC’s expectation that parties deploy agents to all 176,846 polling units, citing the Electoral Act 2022’s use of “may” to indicate that resource constraints make this impractical for smaller parties like LP. Okonkwo questioned the need for agents if INEC were impartial, saying, “Why do you need an agent if you are operating under INEC, an INEC that is not corrupt and that will not manipulate the result? INEC collected 400 billion naira to organize election in Nigeria.”
Okonkwo’s allegations echo earlier claims from February 2023, when he accused INEC of “massive rigging” against Obi, particularly in Lagos and Rivers, per NewsWireNGR. A BBC investigation, cited on X by @MissPearls, found that Obi’s votes in Oyigbo, Rivers State, were halved while Tinubu’s were inflated, with INEC officer Dickson Ariaga allegedly announcing falsified results. X posts, including @unclechibuzo and @firstladyship, claimed Obi won a landslide nationwide, alleging INEC-APC collusion, though these remain unverified.
INEC’s 2023 election faced widespread criticism for technical glitches, with Chairman Mahmood Yakubu apologizing for IReV upload failures due to “traffic surges,” per BBC News. Official results showed Tinubu with 8.79 million votes (36.6%), Atiku Abubakar (PDP) with 6.98 million (29.1%), and Obi with 6.1 million (25.4%), including 61% in the Federal Capital Territory but only 19.8% for APC. LP and PDP alleged fraud, with Okonkwo dismissing legal challenges as futile due to systemic bias, per Ekohotblog.
Okonkwo, who resigned from LP in February 2025 over leadership crises, describing it as a “secret society led by clowns,” has consistently criticized INEC since 2022, alleging politicians planted allies to rig elections, per Within Nigeria. His claims align with public sentiment on X, where @Moon_man224 noted INEC uploading “fake results” before correcting them, fueling distrust. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling, dismissing Obi’s petition for lack of evidence, closed legal avenues, per Vanguard.
The controversy underscores Nigeria’s electoral challenges, with INEC’s N400 billion ($960 million) budget and BVAS system failing to deliver promised transparency, per Premium Times. Okonkwo’s allegations, while unproven, reflect ongoing concerns about electoral integrity, particularly in Rivers, where Governor Nyesom Wike’s support for Tinubu was pivotal, per NewsWireNGR. As 2027 approaches, Okonkwo’s call for opposition unity with Atiku signals a strategic push to challenge APC’s dominance, per Naija News.
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