EKITI ELECTION: OBSERVERS DISCREDIT POLL, SAY LARGE DEPLOYMENT OF SECURITY OPERATIVES MARRED EXERCISE
EKITI
ELECTION: OBSERVERS DISCREDIT POLL, SAY LARGE DEPLOYMENT OF SECURITY OPERATIVES
MARRED EXERCISE
A coalition of local and international
election observers, who monitored the July 14 governorship poll in Ekiti State,
on Tuesday faulted the poll in their reports, insisting that the election that
produced All Progressives Congress, APC’s Kayode Fayemi as Governor-elect,
falls short of global electoral standards as a result of lapses in the way a
section of the large deployment of security agents conducted themselves, among
other electoral-related challenges.
The accredited observers comprised representatives from over 50 domestic
organisations, human rights groups and international election observing bodies,
some of which are Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness,
(Nigeria), Justice and Equity Organisation, (Nigeria), International Republican
Institute (South Africa), and Patriotic Women Foundation, (Abuja) as well as
other bodies from the European Unions among others.
Addressing newsmen in
Ado-Ekiti, state capital, on Tuesday, the observers praised the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) for proper conduct of the poll in line
with global and constitutional dictates and standards, however faulted the
deployment of 30,000 policemen for the poll, claiming that such development and
conduct of some of the security operatives largely marred the electoral
process.
They insisted that such unwholesome practices of voting buying tagged ‘see and
buy’ in local parlance, where voters surreptitiously showed which party they
voted to party agents who went behind to ‘settle’ them, ballot box snatching,
sporadic shootings and driving away of some party agents as well as
intimidation, oppression and forceful influence of electorates’ free will,
featured among anomalies that characterized the poll.
The observers
therefore held that the July 14 poll cannot be recommended as a template for
the forthcoming 2019 general elections as it falls short of global standards
and spells doom for the nation if the lapses noticed were not addressed and a
reorientation exercise across board put in place.
Addressing newsmen on
behalf of the domestic observers, Dr. Gabriel Nwambu, of the Centre for
Credible Leadership and Citizens Awareness, Abuja, said: ” Modern democracy
guarantees freedom of electorate to determine who to vote, anything against
this is an usurp. Polls also should comply with globally accepted standards
hence observers’ job is to access the level of compliance of electoral umpire
to constitutional regulations which serve as a way to give direction for future
exercise.
“Reports of observers remain a potential tool for election tribunals and other
monitoring and relevant bodies for post election activities. 51 reputable
domestic observer groups were on ground in all the 177 wards, 16 Local
Government Areas and all the polling units in the state to monitor the poll.
Ekiti has a record of being a serial politically volatile state in Nigeria and
this became manifest before during and after the poll.
“On July 14, domestic
observers witnessed large turnout of the electorate from 6:30 am, earlier than
the stipulated time of 8:am. The exercise witnessed a high level of
unprecedented electoral related challenges and such abuse will remain contentious
until justice prevails, especially in the areas of cash inducement, arrests of
political stalwarts by security agents and snatching of electoral materials by
political thugs among other abuses.”
The observer cited
some units and wards in Aramoko, Ekiti West Local Government Area, and Efon
Alaaye, Erungbua settlement, Efon Local Government Area in which there were
large numbers of accredited voters, saying that while many electorate,
including pregnant women, persons living with disabilities and aged people
trooped out to vote, card readers were slow, as voting buying and cash
inducement held sway.
They said, “Finger
biometric capture was slow. Party stewards were indicating to voters where to
thumb print. Poll was delayed due to slow pace of machines.
“Party agents had
huge cash and were close to voting points. Security agents were indifferent to
cash inducement of voters. The whole process falls short of the compliance with
international best standards.”
Speaking in the same
vein, one of the International observers, Mrs. Virginia Marumoa-Gae, of the
International Republican Institute (IRIS), South Africa, noted that
accreditation and voting began simultaneously as early as 6 am on Saturday,
July 14, with large numbers of electorate who arrived earlier than the
scheduled 8am. She however noted that trouble began at 11am when “see and buy”
started and this caused chaos across all the wards and polling units.
Citing several
anomalies that featured in the poll, she said: “Voters showed their ballot
papers to party agents to collect money, thugs disrupted voting process by
shooting, but the police and other attaching security agents did well by
establishing their presence at the polling units as stipulated by the
constitution. We also noted that the INEC has improved on card readers this
time.”er.
Also speaking, Mrs.
Yemisi Ige of the Patriotic Women Foundation, a human rights organisation based
in Abuja, noted that while INEC did its best within the framework of electoral
regulations, conspicuous lapses in security caused many of the anomalies that
greeted the poll.
She said: “The July
14 was full of human rights violations, political party agents arrest,
disruption of polls leading to cancellation of polls results, adding that the
deployment of 30, 000 policemen was unwarranted as it scared some voters away
and is a clear case of violation of humans rights which disenfranchised voters
as those who voted were either induced or forced to vote a certain party and
made the poll to fall short of global standards.”
Concluding his
report, Nwambu said: “The poll fell short of the threshold of international
standards as it was based on vote buying, it will be a disaster to recommend
the poll for 2019, but INEC did a good job by conducting the poll in line with
best global standards, but they are not the security the challenge what gave
rise to the shortcomings is due to security lapses. There should be a
reorientation as this development spells doom for Nigeria ahead of 2019.”
