The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) has
revealed that the cases of violence in the just concluded supplementary
elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC) on Saturday.
The union in a statement issued by its press officer, Sarah
Fradgley said there was violence and intimidation of voters during Saturday’s
rerun in parts of Kano, Bauchi and Benue States.
It said, “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.”
It added that though the electoral process had been
transparent, there were violence in the rerun election in parts of Kano State where
polling units became inaccessible to EU observers in some areas.
‘In Nasarawa local government area 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,” the report said.
EU said INEC improved logistical arrangements with most
polling units observed open within half an hour of the official opening time
adding that in the 40 polling units that EU teams could fully observe,
procedures were mostly followed.
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“Smart card readers were used to accredit voters in all
polling units observed. However, manual accreditation procedures were not
always correctly followed if card readers failed to authenticate fingerprints.
The secrecy of the vote was not always sufficiently protected in nearly
one-third of polling units observed.”
“The 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. 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.”
“The EU EOM will continue to observe the results and
petitions’ processes, and will remain in Nigeria until early April.
“The Chief Observer, Maria Arena, will return in June to
present the mission’s final report, which will include recommendations for
future electoral processes.”