Michael Ovat
A group, Foundation of Movement for Good Governance (FMGG) has accused the senator representing Anambra North Senatorial Zone, Princess Stella Oduah of manipulating an online poll for the zone.
The leader of the group, Dr Chuks Ogogor who spoke with journalists in Awka on Thursday said there are glaring manipulations in an online voting process for candidates of the senatorial zone
Ogogor said: “The Project, Nigerians Decide, came up with a very laudable initiative of an independent opinion poll, primarily to x-ray and give a hypothetical projection of the likely outcome of the 2023 General Election in Nigeria.
“At about 10:38 pm, Thursday 29 December 2022, this highly placed individual launched vote bots to automate voter actions and perform them at scale. Senator Stella Oduah who was ranking 2,946 votes some days ago from a reluctant and insignificant voting pace, rising to 4,600 within a few minutes.
“I could immediately tell that the distribution of votes is unnatural and violating an expected power law. This caused me to request for a recorded instance of the entire charade which is attached to this message for your reference”, the group said.
The group regretted that Oduah could engineer the manipulation of an online poll, saying: “that is not the actual election, it is just an opinion poll, yet the senator is already manipulating it. This is an indication of what should be expected in the real election if she is not checked early.”
The group also called for the disqualification of Oduah from the online poll, adding that the manipulation of public opinion polls defies every sense of the words “championing good governance”, rather it remains a critical threat to our fragile democracy at a time the entire country is in dire need of restitution.
“We are hoping your organization lives up to the standards by which you have been evaluated by other Nigerians and disassociate your corporate self from this act by disqualifying the said candidate from the online poll based on the above-stated facts to enable well-meaning Nigerians to explore the benefits of your good initiative towards making the right choice at the election polls where leaders with the sincerity of purpose are set to get elected,” he said.
