The European Union Observers Mission, EOM, on Saturday, released a detailed report on its observations of the just concluded general election, explaining that the elections were marked by calculated violence, lack of transparency on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and voters suppression and intimidation.
The detailed report not only shed light on the integrity of the process but also scrutinised the election results, stressing that INEC was not neutral and favoured the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Muhammad Buhari.
In Rivers State, the report explained that the Nigerian Army interfered with the process and denied journalists, observers and Civil Society Organizations access to collation centres.
It also said that the army intimidated INEC staff while armed men held journalists and INEC staff hostage for hours.
Although EOM did not provide much details into the crises that marred the elections in Rivers State, it however, provided an incite into the conduct of the election in Rivers State and other parts of Nigeria.
These is the breakdown of the report on what transpired in Rivers State.
Media and elections coverage
-In Rivers, armed men held
hostage for two hours a news editor from CoolWazobiaInfo FM, preventing the news crew from accessing polling units.
– One EU observer team was denied access to a collation centre in Rivers. Civil society also reported cases of being restricted in observing in Rivers and some other lower-level collation centres, weakening transparency of the results process.
– Media, CSOs and universities organised debates in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto and Yobe.
In Bauchi, rather than having a debate, each candidate had separate “public dialogue” with media, CSOs and the public. Candidates from incumbent parties did not attend in Benue, Cross River, Rivers (all PDP), Kano, Katsina (APC) and Ogun (APC and APM). The main opposition did not attend in Ebonyi (APC) and Plateau, and Yobe.
– Shortly after the 23 February presidential elections, large segments of social network users criticised shortcomings in the electoral process and expressed disillusionment. Subsequently, in the period prior to the governorship elections, the volume of online discussions reduced. Key governorship candidates regularly used social networks, but intensive online activities were apparent only in a few states, most notably in Akwa Ibom, Imo, Lagos, Plateau and Rivers.
Election violence
– The election became increasingly marred by violence and intimidation of voters and INEC officials, primarily by party supporters. This harmed the integrity of the electoral process and may deter future voter participation. Party leaderships did not take sufficient steps to rein in their supporters but accused opponents of using violence to disrupt the process and/or selectively depress turnout.
– Based on updated information available from media and other sources, during the campaign and the three election days observed, approximately 145 people were killed in election-related violence, 84 of which were in the South South zone. This is a comparable figure to the 2015 general elections.
– Approximately 64 people were reported killed in the campaign up to the 23 February elections, 21 of these deaths in the week following the postponement. Approximately 35 people were reported killed on 23 February, and 24 on 9 March. However, exact numbers of incidents and fatalities are hard to obtain and there are different views on what is categorised as electoral and political violence.
– INEC provided occasional information on security problems and inter-institutional issues. On 1 March, INEC noted in a press release that during the federal elections there had been high levels of violence in a few places, with assaults, abductions and sexual violence against its officials.
– After the 9 March elections, INEC noted that in Rivers “collation centres were invaded by some soldiers and armed gangs resulting in the intimidation and unlawful arrest of election officials.”
The commission also noted its “displeasure with the role played by some soldiers and armed gangs.”
– Of the 39 INEC collation centres where intimidation was reported to EU observers, 12 were in the South South zone, nine in the South West, eight in the South East, five in the North West, three in the North East and two in North Central.
– Of the offices reported to EU observers, four were in the South South (all in Rivers), three each in the North East and South East, two in the North West and one in the South West.
– In Ikwere LGA in Rivers, the election officer stated “the military invaded” the INEC office leading to the election being declared inconclusive. Several videos and pictures circulating online since 23 February suggested misconduct or manipulation during voting or collation.
– Beyond the overall issue of the effect of the military on voters, there were also more specific concerns about interference in the electoral process by military personnel, as noted by INEC and others in Rivers. On 10 March, EU observers and others were prevented from entering the state INEC office in Rivers, which was blockaded by soldiers.
Civil society groups reported on 9 March that military and security agents denied citizen observers access to eight collation centres in Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Zamfara. Subsequent civil society statements also referred to militarisation of the process and interference.
On 15 March, the Nigerian Army announced an investigative committee into allegations of misconduct by soldiers during the general elections.
The committee, which reached out to various election observation missions, was due to report by 31 March. However at the time of writing this report, no public information on findings was available.
Strained inter-institutional relations were evident in Rivers when the Sixth Division of the Army, the police and the governor each made accusatory statements about each other’s actions. This perpetuated concerns that institutions of the state were being used by opposing parties to further political interests of the incumbents at state and federal levels.
– States where the percentage of registered voters in cancelled polling units exceeded five per cent: Rivers (29.3), Nasarawa (9.7), Akwa Ibom (9.2), Cross River (8.7), Plateau (5.9), and Benue (5.0).
Litigations
– At the Supreme Court alone, 22 cases were filed relating to Rivers, the last four of which were adjudicated on 11 April.
– INEC monitors primaries mainly to see that they have occurred and to have documentary evidence in case of subsequent legal challenges. However, monitoring is problematic given that parties hold primaries throughout the country in a short timeframe, in part to comply with prescribed timeliness, but also to avoid losing aspirants having time to then run in the primaries of competitor parties.
Disputed outcomes of primaries resulted in extensive litigation and intra-party conflict during the campaign. Most prominently, APC primaries in Rivers and Zamfara were nullified.
– While the suspension of the chief justice was seen as a “conscious shift of policy to fast track the fight against corruption” by the Buhari Media Organisation, other organisations such as the Nigerian Bar Association and citizen observers described it as a violation of the constitutional procedure and called for the decision to be reversed.
The suspension occurred prior to two sensitive pre-electoral Supreme Court cases on whether the APC could run candidates in the traditional PDP strongholds of Rivers and Zamfara.
