…Berates security agencies over violence
From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
A civil society coalition, the Alliance for Deepening Democracy (A4DD), on Tuesday, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), had again disappointed Nigerians by failing to achieve a smooth electoral process in the just concluded off-cycle election held in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa.
Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the group expressed regret that INEC, which was expected to use the off-cycle polls to repair its already damaged reputation, had fallen short in that regard.
A4DD also criticised security personnels for permitting acts of violence that occurred at numerous polling places and collation centres during the election
Vice Chair of the Alliance, Faith Waziri who led the briefing, said that the election was marred by so many irregularities such as the late arrival of INEC officials and electoral materials which the electoral body had persistently failed to properly address in order to ensure a seamless electoral process.
“This then raises the question of whether or not INEC has a proper Monitoring and Evaluation mechanism to learn from previous elections in order to have better execution of elections especially as this is an off-cycle election which is held in only 3 out of the 36 states of Nigeria.” Waziri stated.
Accordinging to the Vice chair, one striking incident in the election that faulted the electoral process was the incident of pre-filled election result sheets by INEC staff at polling units in Kogi state.
“The electoral process is beyond what takes place on election day and the fact that the process was compromised before the opening of polls is another indictment of INEC in the off-cycle elections.”She said.
Waziri added that the issues of bypassing the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) in this off-cycle election further raised the question of INEC’s commitment and preparedness to ensure a credible and transparent process.
“This takes our electoral process backwards and undermines the credibility of the process as the BVAS was primarily introduced to ensure a tangible means of verifying that those who voted were indeed registered voters in the polling units and are accredited to cast their votes. This once more begs the question of the level of preparedness of INEC and security agencies to ensure peaceful, free, fair and credible elections.” She noted.
She said it was also ridiculous that results form EC8A were uploaded through the BVAS for polling units where elections did not hold in some areas of Imo state such as Ideato, Orlu, Orsu, among others.
According to her, “this unfortunate incident makes us question the sincerity and capacity of this current INEC leadership and the entire organization to deliver free, fair, and credible elections to Nigerians. We are further constrained to ask if INEC, in its current state, is not aiding and abetting the erosion of democratic ideals and faith of Nigerians in democracy?
She said it was observed that most polling units had just one security agent at the polling unit and in other cases, the security agencies stood aloof while political thugs and hirelings desecrated the sanctity of the nation’s democracy by disrupting the election process and preventing voters from exercising their constitutional right.
She concluded that, it was important to emphasise that: “preceding the off-cycle elections, many voters harboured the expectation that these elections would serve as a golden opportunity for INEC to rectify its shortcomings from the events of the 2023 general election. Regrettably, INEC has conveyed to citizens a sense of being beyond redemption, casting doubts on the feasibility of achieving a credible election—a seemingly utopian aspiration in Nigeria.