The 2019 General Elections did not meet the credibility threshold based on the patterns of abuse of process and the consequent lack of integrity observed, the Situation Room said in its report.
The Situation Room, a group of over 70 civil society organisations (CSOs) working on credible and transparent elections in Nigeria, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) operations fell short of its identified role and obligations.
The convener of the group, Clement Nwankwo, revealed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a press conference on the 2019 Elections Report of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.
He said “A scrutiny of the registration numbers given by INEC reveals discrepancies between the total number of registered voters before the election and the total number of registered voters announced by INEC during the collation in 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states.”
Nwankwo also said “there should be an independent inquiry into the poor management of the electoral process by INEC,” adding that the inquiry “should address amongst other issues; procurement, logistics management, role of the security agencies and abuse of process by INEC officials.”
He also identified the cost of conducting elections in Nigeria as being expensive and not sustainable, adding that national conversation should be opened up on this.
On political parties, Nwankwo said the group’s observation showed “flagrant abuse of electoral laws by the two main political parties including vote buying, intimidation, use of hate speech and fake news.”
“The level of violence, hate speech and general toxic political environment contradicts the commitment to the Peace Accord signed by political parties and candidates prior to the elections,” he added.
He urged politicians to commit to respecting the rules of the election and ensure that their followers do not act outside of the law with respect to election returns.
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