…Decry Vote Buying, Ineffective Security Arrangement, Harassment of Electorate

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has strongly chided the supplementary governorship elections held by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in five states at the weekend, saying it was marred by vote buying, ineffective security arrangement, harassment of voters and journalists and the hijack of voting materials by armed gangs with tacit support of the Police.

In its report on the elections which held in Kano, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau and Sokoto states, the EU says, “Extensive electoral security problems were observed in some areas, with groups of men with weapons intimidating and obstructing the process, and security agencies ineffective at protecting citizens’ right to vote.”

“In particular, parts of Kano were largely inaccessible to EU observers and citizen observers and journalists were also obstructed. EU observers also witnessed increased interference by party agents and cases of vote buying. Party leaderships did not appear to take any steps to rein in their supporters.”

“On 23 March, extensive electoral security problems were observed, particularly in parts of Kano where polling became inaccessible to EU observers in some areas. The environment was intimidating and not conducive to voters’ free participation in the election. Party leaderships locally and centrally did not appear to take any steps to rein in supporters and prevent evident violence, intimidation or other misconduct. Throughout the day, INEC did not comment on electoral disturbances, despite its overall responsibility for the election and security arrangements.”

“In Nasarawa local government area (LGA) in Kano, which accounted for approximately one-third of all registered voters for the supplementary governorship election, EU observers witnessed organised intimidation of voters. For example, groups of youths with clubs and machetes patrolled the streets, and people with party agent tags harassed voters. During collation in Kano, EU observers saw that several INEC polling staff had been attacked. Large groups of men with weapons were not contained by the police.”

“Due to intimidating crowds and disturbances, EU observers in Kano could not access or continue observation in polling units in Dala and Nasarawa LGAs. The electoral process in Kano was further compromised by the harassment and obstruction of citizen observers, and journalists from BBC Hausa, the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and TVC. This compromised scrutiny of both polling and collation of results in the affected areas.”

“Isolated violent incidents also disrupted voting and counting in other states. In Bauchi, EU observers witnessed around 50 people with clubs disrupting counting in one polling unit. In Benue, election materials were burnt, resulting in the cancellation of polling affecting 13,000 registered voters, and a collation officer carrying result sheets was shot in the leg.”

“Party agents were seen to interfere more in the process than on the previous two election days. Some polling units in Kano were dominated by controlling party agents and supporters. Of the 40 polling units that EU teams could fully observe, agents were present in all and in five cases were seen interfering in the work of polling officials, in Benue, Plateau and Sokoto. EU observers in all five states also saw party agents trying to influence voters, assisting voters or voting on their behalf.”

“Supporters and agents were sometimes present in polling units in excessive numbers, resulting in overcrowding. EU observers also saw vote-buying in Sokoto by both the leading parties, and indications of vote-buying in Kano. Citizen observers also reported party agents involved in vote buying, and bribery of polling staff and police.”

Although the EU observers notes that there was “improved logistical arrangements and procedures were mostly followed,” the report indicates that, “there were problems with secrecy of the ballot.”

“INEC improved logistical arrangements with most polling units observed open within half an hour of the official opening time. In the 40 polling units that EU teams could fully observe, procedures were mostly followed. Smart card readers were used to accredit voters in all polling units observed.”

The EU also observed that “collation process was finalised in Bauchi, Benue, Plateau and Sokoto within 24 hours, but in Kano it was suspended for several hours due to concerns over the safety of lower-level collation staff.” “For security reasons, collation of results in two of 29 LGAs in Kano had to be undertaken at the state collation centre. Similarly, ward collation had to be undertaken at one LGA in Bauchi.”

“Adding to transparency of the process, the media provided live coverage of state-level collation,” it says.. EU observers visited 12 collation centres and observed party agents present in all. EU observers noted that overall collation procedures were followed and the process was generally transparent.

On 21 March, the INEC notified that supplementary elections would take place on 23 March for five governorships, as well as 45 State House of Assembly seats. This followed elections being declared inconclusive due to the cancellation of a number of polling units on 9 March, and the total number of voters affected being more than the margin of lead. INEC listed electoral misconduct, violence, failure to use smart card readers and over-voting as the reasons for the cancellations. Re-polling took place in 623 polling units with 397,120 registered voters, amounting to 2.7 per cent of all registered voters in the five states.

The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) deployed teams to each of the five states that held supplementary governorship elections on 23 March. A total of 20 observers followed polling, counting and collation of results.

This statement follows the mission’s earlier preliminary reports on the Presidential and National Assembly elections, issued on 25 February, and the Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, issued on 11 March.

The EU EOM says it “will continue to observe the results and petitions’ processes, and will remain in Nigeria until early April.” The Chief Observer, Ms Maria Arena, according to the statement, will return in June to present the mission’s final report, which will include recommendations for future electoral processes.

Also the Pan African Women Projects (PAWP), one of the accredited foreign election observers in Nigeria, has condemned the conduct of Kano supplementary election, insisting that it was characterised by large-scale irregularities and violence.

The international election observer group based in Johannesburg, South Africa, specifically accused security operatives of compromising their professional ethics and turning blind eyes on cases of violence, intimidation and abuse of electoral process in Kano.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, winner of the supplementary election with 1,033,695 votes with Mr Abba Yusuf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) trailing with 1,024,713 votes.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, PAWP Publicity Secretary, Mphoentle Keitseng, cited Bagau polling unit (PU) in Kura, Masaku PU in Dala and Rimi-Gado PU where voters were chased by thugs with dangerous weapons.

Mphoentle revealed that reports gathered through PAWP agents also indicated killings, burning of property and attack on journalists and observers.

The Kano Civil Society Forum also observed that “the conduct of the supplementary election in Kano, therefore, with no apology, faults the entire exercise and its credibility, on the basis of serious security breaches, widespread violence and thuggery, voter intimidation, killings as well as maiming, and unhealthy inducement of voters.”