• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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UPDATED: Situation Room calls for independent inquiry into conduct of 2019 elections 

2019-election

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the 2019 General Election.

Specifically, the coalition said the election failed to meet the threshold set for credible polls in the country.

In a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Convener of Situation Room, Clement Nwankwo, said the probe should include: procurement, logistics management, activities and conduct of security agencies, particularly the military, abuse of process by INEC officials among others.

He emphasised that the independent inquiry “is urgently needed to identify challenges and recommendations towards repairing the damaged credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process”.

According to him, the election failed to meet five out of the eight criteria earlier published by the Situation Room for the measurement of the credibility of the exercise.

He also called for adequate compensation for families of voters, INEC officials and security agents who lost their lives in the national and state elections.

“Situation Room calls on INEC to take the lead in pushing for reforms in the electoral process. Of immediate importance is the need for INEC to call out publicly institutions, individuals and events that may have undermined its ability to carry out its mandate. It is also important that INEC is honest in admitting its own failures. This is needed urgency in restoring faith in the election process.

“There must be individual accountability for violence and manipulating of the election process. This is a collective duty for all law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. We cannot as country afford to permit this level of impunity and disruption of the election process. INEC should lead on this and transparently inform Nigerians where it encounters challenges,” he said.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had conducted the national elections on February 23 as well as the state elections on March 9, 2019.

Nwankwo disclosed that the group also received reports of vote buying in Adamawa, Sokoto, Lagos, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Kwara, Zamfara, Kebbi, Oyo, Kano and Osun States.

The amount of the inducement, he added, ranged from N500 to N5,000.

The convener described the militarisation of the elections as worrisome. He said: “While appreciate the existing security challenges across the country, Situation Room is worried about reports of excessive military involvement in Nigeria’s elections, particularly in the South-South and South-East – Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Imo. The militarisation of the country’s electoral process is a troubling one as this is not just about the presence of military officials, but the actions of our intelligence agencies, the use of the military by the political class and the partisanship and non-recourse to rules of engagement of our armed forces”.

On collation of results, he added: “Early reports show that the collation of election results remains a major weak point in Nigeria’s election management and administration. In Rivers State we have received numerous reports of security agencies interfering in the collation process, deliberate targeting of Election and Collation Officers making their way to the State Collation Centre. One example is in Adoni LGA where the EO was targeted and in Ebonyi, ward collation was abandoned. The Imo State Governor is also reported to have seized collation officials in Ideato South in an attempt to force announcement of favourable results. The exclusion of accredited election observers and party agents from accessing collation centres is reported in Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Zamfara”.

Situation Room is a coalition of over 70 civil society organisations in Nigeria.

 

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja