March 9, Polls: CDD Worried Over Electoral Irregularities In Some States
BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has expressed concern over electoral irregularities in the March 9, 2019 Governorship and State Assembly elections in some states across the country.
A member of the CDD’s Election Analysis Centre (ECA), Mr. Joe Abah, who stated the position of the organisation at a press briefing in Abuja on the Saturday’s elections, expressed serious concerns at the level of electoral irregularities in some states.
He noted that in Imo state for instance, shortly after the commencement of voting, it was reported that there was open ballot stuffing at polling unit 010A and 010B at Mbutu Ward, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the state.
According to Abah; “INEC announced on the election day the sacking of its ad-hoc staff in the state on the ground that they were compromised by politicians. And the commission announced new ad-hoc staff on the Election Day apparently to ensure they would not be compromised.
“However, it was said that even the new set of ad-hoc staff appointed on the Election Day were also compromised.”
He said that the police reportedly arrested more than 105 political thugs in the state for offences ranging from ballot box snatching to disrupting elections, harassing electoral officials and impersonating police officers.
Abah noted that vote buying remained a significant concern in some parts of the country during the elections, adding that the trend was that, votes was traded from as low as N250 to N7,000, stressing that buying and selling of votes prevailed in spite of the warning by INEC, security agencies and anti-corruption agencies.
In his words; “Our observers reported seeing EFCC arresting people involved in vote buying. For example, the EFCC arrested some prominent party stalwarts in Benue and Kwara.”
Also speaking, chairman of CDD-EAC, Prof. Adele Jinadu, said cases of underage voting were also reported by the observers in Plateau, Kano and Bauchi states, adding that INEC needs to address the issue of underage voting for future elections seriously.
Jinadu condemned killings and violence that occurred during the elections just as he decried incidences where observers were denied access to collation centres in some parts of the country, particularly Rivers, Zamfara and Akwa Ibom states.
He further said; “The Smart Card Readers (SCRs) which authenticate the Permanent Voters Card (PVCs), accredit voters and matches voter biometrics to the INEC database was dogged by glitches. The challenge came mainly when it was time for reading and matching the fingerprints of voters.
Jinadu noted that there was sharp contrast between the Presidential and National Assembly elections with regards to late opening of polls and commended INEC for the improvement in handling of logistics, saying that observers reported early arrival of election materials and personnel in most locations.
