The
struggle to win more governorships between the political parties, yesterday,
shifted to the media
with the two major political parties accusing each other
of conspiring with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and
security agencies to rig the governorship elections against them where they
lost out.
The
recriminations came as INEC declared governorship contests in Abia, Imo and
Taraba States as inconclusive.
Meanwhile,
the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, a coalition of 60 civil society
organisations, yesterday urged INEC to clinically scrutinize results from Abia,
Akwa Ibom and Rivers States. The coalition in a statement, yesterday
particularly affirmed that there was sufficient reason to “question the
credibility of the elections results in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.”
Echoing
the CSOs, the European Union, EU, Election Observation Mission, EU EOM, pointed
at Rivers and Akwa Ibom States as the two most outstanding states where the
elections were marred by violence and deliberate interference.
How
elections were manipulated in Akwa Ibom, Rivers —APC
Briefing
newsmen in Lagos, yesterday, on the outcome of the elections, the National
Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
painted a picture of how, according to him, the elections in Rivers and Akwa
Ibom were manipulated by the Presidency and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
He
said the party was left with no option than to call for the cancellation of the
election conducted in the two states.
Explaining
how the elections were manipulated, in the two states, he said: “As you would
recollect, our party’s chapter in Rivers had written a petition complaining of
the crass partisanship of the Rivers State Commissioner of Police in the
Presidential and National Assembly elections held on March 28. Because of this
petition, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Suleiman Abba posted three Commissioners
of Police from the Force Headquarters to oversee the April 11 Governorship and
House of Assembly elections in Rivers State but as soon as the President learnt
of this development, he directed the IGP to reverse the decision and instead
requested that AIG Tunde Ogunsakin be posted to oversee the April 11 elections
in Rivers State.
“As
soon as electoral materials were distributed, the DPO for Akukutoru Local
Government Area simply handed over the election materials for this local
government to the militants. Upon learning of this development, AIG Ogunshakin
ordered that the materials be recovered and given to the Electoral Officer for
the local government within the next hour.
“Irked
by AIG Ogunsakin’s directive, the Presidency ordered him to leave Rivers State
within six hours, and a pliant replacement was asked to take over from him.
From then on, unimaginative terror was unleashed on the electorate particularly
on APC members and supporters. It was a straight fight between the police, the
militants and the PDP on the one hand and the APC on the other hand.
“Contrary
to the directive from INEC that card readers be used for the elections, the
machines were discarded in Rivers and that is why the voters turnout for
Rivers, as announced by INEC stood at more than 75per cent compared with the
national average of between 25 and 35 per cent.”
Election
materials not supplied to most polling unitsin A-Ibom
Speaking
on the rigging method used in Akwa Ibom State, Mohammed said election materials
were not supplied to most of the polling units in the state.
He
said: “In former Governor Victor Attah’s ward in Ibesikpo Asutan, three
contiguous polling units did not receive election materials while most of the
polling units in Oruk Anam, which is the home local government area of Atuekong
Etiebet and Chief Soni Udom, Director-General of the APC Governorship Campaign
Organisation, most of the polling units did not receive election materials.
“In
areas where polling materials were received, hordes of deadly armed thugs
escorted by men in Nigeria Police and Army uniforms stormed the polling units
and carted away the election materials midway into the accreditation process.”
Killings
in A-Ibom
According
to him several cases of ballot snatching were reported in the state in the
course of which, according to him, several members of the APC, who were seen as
being in the way of the alleged PDP thugs, were killed.
According
to him, the killing of an APC member in Ini Local Government Area was
acknowledged by the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Mr. Adisa Bolanta,
who was in charge of elections in the state.
He
thus called on democracy enthusiasts and civil society organisations to join
APC in calling for the outright cancellation of what he described as phoney
elections conducted in Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Abia states.
INEC,
security operatives manipulated polls in favour of APC —PDP
The
PDP in its retort also accused the APC of collaborating with INEC and security
agencies to rig the elections across the country.
The
party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh,
flayed INEC and security officials of having succumbed to the intimidating
propaganda of the APC.
According
to the party, “evidences abound of widespread irregularities across the country
with INEC rejecting results from the strongholds of PDP candidates for no just
cause while accepting the figures those of the APC.
“In
Lagos, Adamawa, Plateau, Benue, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi,
Nasarawa, Niger, Yobe, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Imo states, there are proofs
of electoral manipulations ranging from under-age voting, ballot stuffing and
intimidation of PDP supporters to alteration of some aspects of the process in
favour of APC.
“In
Abia State, but for the outcry of the people and timely intervention of the
INEC headquarters which rejected the illegal cancellation of results from three
local governments and strongholds of the PDP by the State Resident Electoral
Commissioner, REC, even after they have been announced by the returning
officers, the PDP would have been robbed of its well deserved victory in those
areas.
“As
a responsible party committed to national unity and democracy, our members have
remained peaceful and orderly; our candidates have been conceding defeat in the
interest of peace while we elect to channel our protest to the appropriate
quarters. The same has not been seen of the APC, which has unleashed its
members to cause mayhem and harass our supporters in states where PDP
candidates clearly won, such as Akwa Ibom, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Ondo, Rivers and
Gombe states.
“While
we urge INEC to take disciplinary actions against its erring officials, we
strongly call to question the sincerity of some of the observers especially
regarding their failure to raise issues on the irregularities that
characterized the voting pattern in most of the states where APC candidates
have been declared winner.
“Finally,
we invite Nigerians and the international community to note the emerging dangerous
trend in our country. There are rising concerns that the APC may have commenced
a systematic destruction of democratic institutions and culture, which the PDP
successfully nurtured in the last 16 years. Indeed, we wonder if there is a
deliberate attempt to also erode the discipline and professionalism of our
security forces and entrench the culture of impunity our society.”
The
party, however, urged the citizens not to despair but to brace up and resist
all anti-democratic and dictatorial tendencies, noting that it is repositioning
to stand by the people by providing a credible opposition and returning to
power in four years.
CSOs
urge Jega to probe Abia, A-Ibom, Rivers results
Meanwhile,
the Nigeria Civil Society Room, yesterday, urged INEC chairman, Professor
Attahiru Jega, to clinically scrutinise the final collated results from Rivers,
Akwa Ibom and Abia states.
The
coalition which monitored governorship and atate Assembly elections across the
federation further decried what it termed as “weak oversight powers of the
national headquarters of INEC over Resident Electoral Commissioners, RECs.”
It
urged the INEC boss to specifically pay closer attention to results from the
three aforementioned states, insisting that there were “good grounds to
question the credibility of the election results in both Rivers and Akwa Ibom
states. A country cannot afford to have state level elections held as it has
been done in these three states.”
Consequently,
the CSOs, implored Professor Jega to take steps towards ensuring that the final
results returned from the three states were cross-checked with the total number
of accredited voters as captured by the Smart Card Reader Machines.
“The
machines must be preserved, evidence extracted from them and juxtaposed with
the final results”, the observer groups maintained.
The
coalition in a statement read by the Executive Director of Policy and Legal
Advocacy Center, PLAC, Mr. Clement Nwankwo said: “In our view, INEC should
concern itself with possible negative public perception of the elections in the
three states, as a way of strengthening the trust of the electorate in the
voting process.
“The
Situation Room also notes and condemns in the strongest terms the leading role
played by prominent public political office holders and other politicians as
well as some INEC officials in encouraging and actively taking part in
organised misconduct and disorderly behaviour that violated the sanctity of the
electoral process and calls that action be taken to investigate their
activities with a view to prosecuting and sanctioning them, if found culpable
under the law.
Weak
oversight powers of INEC over RECs
“In
addition, Situation Room is concerned about the weak oversight powers of the
national headquarters of INEC over Resident Electoral Commissioners and State
INEC offices in the management and conduct of elections. This makes it easy for
compromised RECs and other state level INEC officers to undermine the
credibility of the election sometimes with reckless impunity.”
While
noting several cases of infraction of the electoral law across the country, the
coalition observed “Cases of election-related violence in Akwa Ibom (18), Abia
(nine), Anambra (seven), Delta (nine), Imo (six), Rivers (16), Benue (six),
Katsina (17), Sokoto (17) and Kano State (seven). Killings in Rivers State
where seven people (including a police officer) were killed as well as in Akwa
Ibom (three), Delta (two), Katsina (two).
“In
Rivers State, historically deep-rooted political animosities played out in a
brazen, violent and naked manner to subvert the electoral process in many local
governments in the state. In Akwa Ibom, there were also serious questions about
the veracity of the results because of reports of active and direct partisan interference
with the elections. There are also concerns about Abia State, which recorded
multiple cases of electoral misconduct.
“The
Situation Room hereby calls on INEC to urgently take steps to clinically
scrutinise the final collated results from these states (Rivers, Akwa Ibom and
Abia) against the polling unit results and make a reasoned judgment about
them.”
There
was increase in security threats—EU EOM
The
European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) echoed the observations of
the domestic observers as it identified Rivers and Akwa Ibom States as areas
where violence and deliberate interference with the electoral process were most
pronounced during the governorship and House of Assembly elections.
The
position of the EU is contained in the second preliminary report released by
the international body in Abuja, yesterday, by the European Union Election
Observation Chief Observer, Santiago Fisas.
The
mission noted with concern that there was an increase in security threats
during the last election than the previous presidential election, resulting in
the killing of no fewer than 30 persons.
The
mission said that although it did not find evidence of centralised systematic
manipulation, the results from Rivers State included what it called “highly
implausible data” while other election monitors had doubts about the data
posted from other states in the South-South. They did not, however, name the
other states.
The
mission said that collation was the weakest part of the election day process
particularly at the ward level. The EU also accused the PDP and the APC of
misuse of incumbency power during the elections.
The
Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) in its observation called for the
harmonisation of the accreditation and voting processes. The President of CCN,
His Eminence Emmanuel Udofia, who gave the organisation’s perspective on the
election also lamented the low voter turnout.
Inconclusive
polls in Imo
Meanwhile,
the victory dance of Governor Rochas Okorocha in the Imo State governorship
election was cut short early yesterday, when the poll was declared
“inconclusive” by INEC.
The
State Returning Officer, SRO, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, cited the
cancellation of 144,715 votes in various polling booths in about 23 local
government areas for the action.
Professor
Ibidapo-Obe also cited various complaints of irregularities that emanated from
several polling booths across the 305 wards of the state.
He
said elections would be repeated in four out of the 27 local council areas of
the state. He, however, did not give the date of the rescheduled poll.
He
identified Owerri Municipal, Ideato South, Ideato North and Ahiazu Mbaise as
the four local government areas that would not be subjected to another round of
voting.
After
announcing results submitted to him, the SRO had said: “I shall not do any
declaration. We have various cancellations in various units and wards. The
affected polling units in the local governments totalled 144,715. The margin of
lead that we calculated from the two leading parties is 79,529, and because of
this figure, this election is inconclusive.”
Parties
react
While
Governor Okorocha said he was prepared to go for supplementary election, the
state leadership of the PDP, accused INEC of reducing the scores of its flag
bearer, Chief Emeka Ihedioha, in the result collated and declared at Ezinihitte
Mbaise.
“In
the case of Oru East local government area, while stakeholders were anxiously
expecting the result, the INEC-EO, Mrs. Emmanuella Opara publicly confessed
that she was kidnapped and taken to a secret location by agents of the APC
candidate, where she was forced at gunpoint to enter fictitious figures. We
hope to reconcile with INEC, areas affected by the irregularities and seek
appropriate redress”, the State PDP Chairman, Chief Nnamdi Anyaehie said.
While
saying that it was time wasting to declare the election inconclusive, Okorocha,
however, boasted “if the election is properly conducted, my opponent will not
get up to 100,000 votes.”
Vanguard
recalls that the same scenario played out during the Chief Ikedi Ohakim era,
and it was the supplementary election that sacked the incumbent governor and
installed Okorocha.
Taraba,
Abia elections inconclusive
The
governorship election in Abia State which had the PDP candidate, Okeize Ikpeazu
and the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA candidate, Alex Otti, in
contention for supremacy was also declared inconclusive by the Returning
Officer, Prof. Benjamin Ozurumba.
According
to him, the margin of lead between the APC candidate, Okorocha and Ihedioha of
the PDP was not higher than the number of votes cancelled or where the election
did not hold.
The
governorship election in Taraba State was also declared inconclusive by the
returning officer, Prof. Muhammadu Kyari.
The
returning officer made the declaration in Jalingo, the state capital after
collating results from the 16 local government areas of the state.
He
said the reason for the declaration was because the number of cancelled votes
was above the gap between APC, who came second in the election to PDP who came
first.
The
tension, meanwhile, spurred violence across some sections of the state
yesterday.
Vanguard
gathered that the house of the Secretary to Taraba State Government in Gyembu,
Sardauna local government was burnt down.
The
country home of Abel Diah, the member representing Mbamga state constituency
was also razed down by some angry youths who attempted to snatch the election
materials from the collation centre of the area.
It
was also learnt that two persons were killed in Rankaviri, the headquarters of
Ardo-Kola local government area.
Vanguard Special Report on how elections were rigged, by PDP, APC
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
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