Coalition of INEC Election Observers Call for Review of Declared National Assembly Results in Anambra state

www.odogwublog.com reports that a coalition of INEC accredited election observers

just woke up today, two week after the Presidential and national Assembly elections and issued a statement.

Although the statement made available to www.odogwublog.com did not come from Prince Chris Azor who knows this blogger and journalist largely  even when he called a press conference for it, its content is served you below……….

 As Nigerians prepare for the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly Elections, the Coalition of INEC Accredited Election Observers for 2015 General Elections in Anambra State has condemned the massive irregularities that trailed the National Assembly elections in Anambra State and called for outright review of the declared results.

The group also called on the National Chairman of INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega to without delay set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the reported cases of rigging, intimidation, and sundry malpractices in the State during the National Assembly elections held on March 28, this year.

Disclosing this to newsmen in a post-election assessment report of the Coalition presented by its leader, Prince Chris Azor, the group said the fact-finding Committee, when set up, will “ascertain the veracity of the claims and allegations of rigging, vote buying and intimidation of stakeholders” and advise the Commission and the Chief Electoral Commissioner/Returning Officer.

He disclosed that the weakest point in the election process was the collation of results, which he quoted reports as having witnessed “ cases of manipulation of the collation process through falsification of figures and other untoward practices undermining the whole electoral architecture. The credible state level use of PVCs and Card Readers will need to be implemented in a more effective manner to ensure credible elections on April 11.” 

Prince Azor cited cases of alleged falsification at Arroma Junction II – Polling Unit 009 – Awka South , Awka Ward 1 – Polling Unit 006, Awka South and Agbana village Hall 1 – Polling Unit 006, Awka South where results obtained at the polling unit failed to tally with the results submitted to the collation centres.

Furthermore, he pointed out that there were malpractices of over voting where votes cast exceeded the number of accredited voters and at Nibo Ward 1 – Polling Unit 010, Awka South where the result was not recorded and snatching of ballot boxes by olitical thugs at Anambra East and Anambra West.

He further stated that the severe malfunctioning of the Card Reader Machines was a hectic challenge as “the Card Reader often recognized the Permanent Voters Card (PVCs) as belonging to INEC, but in many cases failed to recognize the finger prints of the same people. Most of those who presented the cards in most polling units, encountered this challenge with the Card Reader pronouncing ‘ “verification failed’ “or ‘ “mismatch’ .

According to him, “in most areas, the Card Reader didn’t work at all. Those that functioned, took between 10 seconds and 10 minutes for the Card Reader to clear some of the prospective voters… This development led to the use of manual accreditation which actually rubbished the innovation of using the card readers. This process have risen to thevdiscretion by INEC ad-hoc staff and irregularities.”

He stated that the delay in the arrival of election materials and personnel was as a result of issues the Commission had with National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), “who could not mobilize drivers accordingly.”

The INEC Accredited Observers further noted with dismay, the “discrepancy between results declared at the polling units and the collation centres. Which according to them “further highlights the weakness of the collation process.”

He said the group rejected as “unacceptable the inability of INEC to deploy its officials and election materials on time to allow for a timely commencement of polls, recalling that reports available to it, indicate that, “ officials and materials did not reach significant number of polling stations by the time of poll opening. This delayed accreditation and voting led to continuation of polls till late into the night in many places”

Mr Azor pointed out that the elections witnessed challenges in the area of the accreditation process whereby use of Card Readers were suspended and manual accreditation re-introduced, a failing situation he noted, “undermined the full benefit anticipated by the use of biometric technology and imposed unnecessary hardship on Nigerians.’

He called INEC to make clear what guidelines it intends to introduce to govern the accreditation process during the April 2015 elections in order to correct its own deficiencies and inform the general public on what to expect.

On the constitution of Election Tribunal, he said it was apt with timeframe to constitute and operate same in the State, but expressed worry that “Executive connivance tends to undermine its implementation, raising an alarm that, “the fact that the election tribunals in Anambra State have yet to open for business long after the Presidential and National Assembly elections, lends credence to this concern.’