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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Centre for Transparency Advocacy (CTA), an election observer group has called for the interrogation of staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), especially Residents electoral Commissioners, field officers and Electoral Officers who are suspected to be involved in malpractices during the recent polls.
CTA Executive Director, Faith Nwadishi made the call at a press conference on the observation of the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections Friday in Abuja.
According to Nwadishi, INEC need to have the political will to purge itself of the foul impurities that have raised questions about its objectivity and impartiality in the general elections of 2023.
The CTA boss also charged Nigerians, particularly the youth, to keep up the march for a new Nigeria where due process would be followed.
She also urged aggrieved political parties to seek redress in courts and not heat up the polity by using inciting words that may lead to breach of peace.
She said: “Fellow compatriots, some incidents during the election and thereafter leading to the collation and announcement of the Presidential Election result have cast doubts on the transparency of the process leading to the emergence of a winner but the gains from this election cannot be wished away.
“This elections deployed technology as its safeguard, and according to our observers, the ratio of challenges emanating from the B-VAS was at 24 percent majorly from poor network leading to slowness of the B-VAS,, the inability of the B-VAS to capture finger prints, wrong pass word, low batteries and the refusal of the presiding officers to upload results after elections at the polling units claiming wrong codes among others.
“There were reports of tension from polling units arising from late arrival of personnel and materials, incomplete election materials, intimidation by party thugs, forced extension of voting hours, non-availability of result sheets, double voting by some persons, vote canvasing, undue assistance by party agents to aid voters thumb print, unnecessary hoarding of voting materials by adhoc staff for unjust reasons, insufficient security and poor crowd control among others.
“The Nigerians hoped strongly on the promises made by Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) on different occasions that elections results will be transmitted via the B-VAS in real time as was done in the last off season elections. Nigerians strongly believed that the B-VAS will be the real game changer. The B-VAS only worked well to the extent of accreditation and perhaps, showing the actual voting strength in Nigeria.
“Fellow compatriots, to the disappointment of Nigerians, polling unit results were not uploaded in real time at the end of elections and collations at the polling units as promised. INEC officials on the field claimed they had no codes to transmit the results and in a statement issued by INEC said that there were technical glitches. These explanations did not sway Nigerians from strongly believing that some of the staff of the electoral umpire were compromised. Some results that were uploaded were either mutilated or had people’s photographs and in fact, unreadable.
“The role of Resident Electoral Commissioners at this time should be interrogated as some of them are alleged to be partisan and in connivance with politicians to derail due process. You may recall that CTA and other CSOs condemned the appointment of some partisan Resident Electoral commissioners leading up to the election.
“It appears that these set of INEC officials habitually work at variance with set guidelines and orders from the INEC headquarters. It was alleged that they hoarded result sheets and gave them out to highest bidders who apparently used the result sheets to tamper with actual outcomes of polls from the polling units. It was also alleged that these same group of INEC staff hoarded the codes and access to the B-VAS hence the non-transmission of results from the polling units as stipulated by law. This is unacceptable and should be discouraged.
“Security agencies watched to the consternation of citizens while election materials are destroyed, citizens bared from casting their votes and outright intimidation in Lagos and parts of Rivers State. We have seen videos where Youth Corps members and INEC adhoc staff were subjected to physical torture just to force them to change result figures to favour certain candidate. This is unacceptable and highly condemnable. The CTA most sincerely condole with the families that lost loved ones in this election and those that sustained various degrees of injuries. We wish you all quick recovery and the fortitude to bear the loss.
“INEC should as a matter of priority, set up an enquiry to investigate its staff especially some Resident Electoral Commissioners, the Electoral Officers at the LGAs, supervisory presiding officers and dubious adhoc staff. We ask that all those involved in electoral malpractice should be arrested, prosecuted and punished adequately. This will serve as a deterrent.”
