BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – The Coalition of over 70 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), under the auspices of Situation Room, has condemned acts of voter intimidation and insecurity that trailed the just-concluded supplementary elections in the country.
Executive Director, Policy Advocacy Centre (PAC) and Co-Convener of the groups, Mr Clement Nwankwo, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) must urgently address the ugly development by ending supplementary elections in the nation’s political process.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Mr Nwankwo stated that addressing the contentious issue of supplementary polls has become imperative because they are fast turning into manipulative tools for circumventing the electoral process.
According to Nwankwo, some observable flaws have become recurrent in Nigeria’s elections and must be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians, especially incidents of voters’ intimidation and insecurity that resulted in shooting of a returning officer in the just-concluded supplementary polls in Benue State.
“The widespread incidents of violence, thuggery and abuse of the electoral process, especially as reported in Gama ward of Kano State must be addressed.”
He said the Situation Room believes the level of abuse recorded in Gama ward is of such monumental proportions as to necessitate INEC expunging the outcome of the supposed voting results from the final collation.
“Situation Room is concerned that abuses of electoral process occurred in spite of the deployment of top-level police officials, including a Deputy Inspector-General and three assistant inspector general and commissioners”, he said.
Mr Nwankwo said it was ironical and worrying that despite heavy security deployment during the supplementary polls, the exercise still witnessed huge quantum of violence compared to the previous elections where things went on smoothly with only the State Police Commissioner in charge.
He noted that the safety of elections’ day workers, INEC, ad-hoc staff, observers and journalists is not guaranteed and the development portends great danger for future elections in Nigeria.
On the actions of political parties and their supporters, Nwankwo lamented that this has continued to undermine the confidence in our electoral process as well as the rights of citizens to fully participate in elections and cast their votes without fear.
Nwankwo, who said the Situation Room deployed observers for the supplementary governorship elections in Bauchi, Benue, Kano, Plateau and Sokoto states, said incidences of violence were recorded in some local government areas in Bauchi, Kano and Benue where there was and massive thuggery with the thugs threw stones at voters and other electoral stakeholders
He said some reports received showed instances of over-deployment of security personnel such as in Plateau, adding that the group was puzzled by the situation in Kano where the deployment of senior police officers could not stem the incidents of political thuggery and voters’ intimidation.
The PAC Executive Director, Nwankwo said reports indicated instances where security personnel, especially the police and civil defence met challenging situations on ground with obvious inaction.
The Situation Room however noted that despite all the preparations by the electoral umpire, INEC, there were still reports of widespread vote buying in Kano and Bauchi States as well as under-aged voting recorded in Plateau and Sokoto.
