Follow Us on Google
…Charges INEC to stay neutral
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), an independent election monitoring group has urged Nigerians and all stakeholders to continue to conduct themselves in a peaceful and responsible manner as the collation process and election in places where it was rescheduled continue.
CTA also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold itself to the highest level of neutrality and accountability in the process.
The Centre made the appeal at a press conference presided by its Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi, yesterday in Abuja.
The CTA Situation Room also reported that information gathered by its observers stationed across the nation, suggested that the occurrence of open vote buying and selling had taken on a new dimension involving money transfers, food vouchers, and the compilation of names and account information.
The group added that, based on reports from its observers, INEC officials and supplies generally did not arrive on time at the majority of the polling units.
It alleged that INEC staff refused to upload results in several polling units during the Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections based on reports from it’s observers.
It said: “Reports from our observers across 982 polling units showed that the BVAS worked well in 76 percent of the polling units. However, there were reported cases of Ad hoc staff not uploading results at the end of polls as stipulated in the guidelines.
“Reports from observers indicate that the incidence of open vote buying and selling assumed a new dimension, cash transfers, food vouchers, name and account details collation. This in our view, may not be unconnected with the deployment of the BVAS for the elections and possibly, the effect of the naira redesign policy. Given the mutative nature of vote buying and selling, the phenomenon appears far from being eradicated from the polity.
“Although, INEC proposed commencement of accreditation is for 8:30am, on the average, polling officials and materials did not arrive the polling units before 10:30am. As a result of the late arrival of INEC officials and voting materials, the commencement of voter accreditation and voting started after the 8.30am.
“The late arrival of INEC officials necessitated the need for the setup of the polling units to be hurriedly done and this, in some cases, made the polling officials to forget to properly brief the electorates on the proper voting procedures.
“In some of the these cases, these acts were perpetrated in full public glare and in the presence of security personnels. In addition to acts of intimidation and harassment, there were cases of violence reported from some states in the country. These include physical injuries and destruction of voting materials.
“While security personnel were expected to be on ground before the commencement of the voting process, our observers noted that in most of the polling units, security personnel were not present until about 9 – 10am. On the average, there were about 4 security personnel in most of the polling units where our observers were deployed. Generally, observers reported that the security personnel behaved and conducted themselves professionally.
It also noted that in some cases, INEC ad hoc staff demonstrated insufficient familiarity with the operation of the BVAS.
“Observers reported that wrong codes and poor network were some of the challenges faced by the ad-hoc staff” The Organisation said.
It however, noted that Voter turnout was generally impressive as in most cases, voters came out earlier than the arrival of INEC officials, materials and security personnel.
“They mostly conducted themselves peacefully and in accordance with voting guidelines.
“Our observers reported that INEC officials in line with the electoral guidelines gave preferences to pregnant women, nursing mothers, PLWDs and the elderly. However, our observers also noted that in some cases, INEC ad hoc staff demonstrated insufficient familiarity with the operation of the BVAS. Observers reported that wrong codes and poor network were some of the challenges faced by the ad-hoc staff
“Specifically, we call on INEC to hold itself to the highest level of neutrality and accountability” the group added.
