TMG decries violence, vote buying, apathy during guber polls

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has said the major drawback of the governorship/state Assemblies election remains the widespread violence that permeated through the states of the country.

In a statement issued by its chairman, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, TMG noted that cases of disruption of polling processes by political thugs were reported as they snatched ballot boxes and destroyed electoral materials across the country, and in extreme cases resulting in deaths.

He said: “In the build up to the elections, there were reports of voters’ suppression and intimidation with threats of consequences issued by well-known loyalists of some highly ranked politicians in the country.  The failure of the security operatives to apprehend and prosecute issuant of such threats, further emboldened them to unleash mayhem on citizens on Election Day.

“The gubernatorial elections were further challenged by incidents of voter apathy in many states across the country, following diminished confidence in the electoral umpire as a result of the outcome of the presidential election. This becomes a major draw back on the nation’s electoral process, considering the increasing spate of voter education in the country.

TMG, which deployed 768 roving observers across 768 Local Government Areas, added that political thugs also perpetrated voter suppression and intimidation, in most cases in the presence of security agencies.

The group, however, said there were improvements by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) around logistics delivery and functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

It, criticised security arrangements, saying that it happened to be one of the most violence-ridden elections in Nigeria’s recent history.

“Journalists, and observers were also victims of intimidation and attacks; for instance, a TMG observer was physically attacked in Kano,” it said.

The group reiterated that the failure of the police to respond to voter intimidation in the build up to the state elections emboldened political thuggery and election violence that permeated the governorship election in Nigeria.

It noted that the police have the authority to stamp out those individuals no matter who they are connected to. It recommended that the police must arrest those individuals and bring them to justice to serve as a deterrent in future elections.

It also recommended that all arrested electoral offenders must be prosecuted in public knowledge, while investigations continue, to arrest those not in the police net yet.

TMG added “Furthermore, the sponsors of those thugs who unleashed mayhem on innocent Nigerians who only sought to express their constitutional guaranteed rights must be fished out and prosecuted in public knowledge.

“Several arrests were made across the country on electoral violations, ranging from disruption to vote buying. The actions of the security agents in these circumstances are noted and commended.

“In some cases, the security agents moved swiftly to restore order for polling to continue. Interestingly, citizens’ resilience to fight disruption and manipulation of the elections were widely reported in Lagos, Kano, Abia and Enugu.

“In Kano, citizens moved en-masse to escort polling unit results to the collation centres. These acts of peaceful resilience on the part of citizens are also commended as it show the yearning of Nigerians for a true democratic process.”

TMG stated that vote trading reared its ugly head again and took even more severe dimensions than recorded in the presidential election.

“In States like Kaduna, Kano, Cross River, Ogun, Ebonyi and Bauchi, open conduct of vote buying pervaded the process. In some instances where officials of the Economic Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) moved to arrest culprits, the officers were attacked.

“The gubernatorial elections were further challenged by incidents of voter apathy in many states across the country following diminished confidence in the electoral umpire as a result of the outcome of the presidential election. This becomes a major drawback on the nation’s electoral process considering the increasing spate of voter education in the country.”

Rafsanjani added that reports from TMG observers showed that the BVAS functioned well in most of the polling units across the states, noting that accreditation processes went smoothly with the device concluding validation of a voter within a 10 second timeframe.

“However, pockets of incidence of BVAs malfunction were recorded, in such rare cases, TMG observers also reported that the officers promptly rectified the problems. This is a significant area of improvement from the presidential election where BVAS malfunction was prevalent.

“Similarly, the Central Data Centre closely monitored the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal for real-time upload of results from the polling units. The centre also noted an improvement as polling unit results were uploaded real-time in some polling units.”

“However, as reported from the field, some polling officials categorically told voters that they could not upload results from the polling units, citing directives from INEC and log in access as some of their reasons.”

The group recommended that the EFCC and ICPC should continue with their good works to reduce the commercialisation of vote buying and arrest the enablers, middlemen, and receivers during the upcoming elections.

The group commended the INEC on lessons learnt from the presidential poll, which were brought to improve the state elections.

It, however, recommended that INEC must review all evidence of electoral malpractices presented before it.

“As seen from the efficient logistic deployment and functionality of the technological introductions, Nigeria’s electoral system has the potential to bring about credible elections, it is to the extent that the commission is allowed to independently manage the elections that hinders credible elections in the country. INEC must strive to eliminate human interference especially with result management.

“As seen from the March 18th election, the credibility, freeness, and fairness of elections in Nigeria are beyond the management of the commission alone. Security agencies must play their roles optimally to ensure electoral violence does not remain a tool for election manipulation in the hands of politicians.

“Huge lessons have been learnt from the 2023 general election, the commission must begin to rally stakeholders towards improving the system ahead of the off-cycle elections in Kogi, Edo and Imo states.”

TMG also commended the commitment of domestic and international observers as well as the media for its professionalism without interfering with election procedures.