Logistics, violence mar elections – Commonwealth observers, NCSSR

The Commonwealth election observers and the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) have called for actions on the late arrival of electoral officials and materials at many polling units in today’s presidential and National Assembly elections across the country.

They made the call on Saturday in Abuja while presenting an interim report on the start of the 2023 general elections.

The head of the Commonwealth observer mission to Nigeria and former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, who was a guest at the briefing, said his committee observed the late arrival of officials and materials in polling units (PUs) in many parts of the country.

“The point I’m making is that everybody arrived late. And before they could start with the voting, it took some time,” Mbeki said.

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He said that though they had been told that elections would start at 8:30am, they arrived before that time at the first polling unit (PU), observed and found that INEC officials only arrived at 8:30 a.m. and elections could only begin about an hour later.

He said, “At a second PU unit observed, INEC officials complained of inks drying as early as elections began. Imagine what can happen later. Our committee, however believes that the electoral commission, INEC, is able to address the problem.”

In the interim statement jointly signed by co-conveners, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, Ene Obi, Asma’u Joda and James Ugochukwu, said that despite the challenges observed, they were glad that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders ensured that the elections were not postponed as was the case in recent general elections.

“The Situation Room is pleased that sensitive election materials have reached most local government areas across the country.

“The Situation Room is hopeful that INEC and other election stakeholders will resolve existing and emerging challenges relating to deployment of electoral officials and materials, prompt commencement of polls, and accreditation and voting.

“Situation Room calls on voters to eschew violence and be law abiding as they perform their civic duty,” they said.

They, however, lamented late deployment of election materials across the country, with less than 30 per cent of polling units starting on time, according to reports from their network of observers and partners.

They said, “States where polls opened around 8.30am include Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe and Jigawa. However, in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Rivers, Kaduna and FCT, there has been significant delays in commencement of polls, with many PUs yet to open as at 11.30am.

“In most states, deployment of election officials and materials to the RACs commenced early hours of this morning, making it extremely difficult for the election to commence on time. In some states, many ad hoc staff could not find their names on the staff list, even after participating in the training exercise, causing further delays.

“There were reports of deployment of election materials to the wrong PUs in parts of North West and North East states.”

On election violence, the coalition expressed concern on the tendency to use violence to intimidate opposition and suppress voters, as was observed in Kogi and Rivers states.

“Specifically, In Anyigba ward of Dekina LGA of Kogi State, thugs are reportedly going round destroying election materials and dispersing voters. The Situation Room calls on security agencies to intervene and arrest the escalating violence,” they said.

The coalition said it received reports of attempts by political actors to engage in vote buying.

They, however, commended the security agencies for swift action they have taken by apprehending suspected perpetrators of vote buying.

“The Situation Room calls for a thorough investigation of the cases while advocating even more vigilance against those who may still be harboring such intentions,” they said.