A coalition of
civil society organisations monitoring the 2011 general elections has
said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), must
investigate and prosecute all those involved in various election
malpractices and violence during the National Assembly election. It
said that the commission must conduct a presidential poll that the
credibility of the election should not be in doubt like what happened
in 2007 presidential election.
Speaking yesterday
in Abuja at a press conference organised by the 2011 Nigeria Election
Situation Room, Jibrin Ibrahim, executive director of the Centre for
Democracy and Development (CDD), said the commission should conduct the
presidential election to ensure the credibility of the result.
Electoral irregularities
“The group
identified a number of lapses that occurred during the 9 April election
which, it is hoped, will not be repeated on 16 April. Of particular
note were problems in Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Delta and Imo States. In
the case of Anambra, there is the embarrassing anomaly of two
conflicting returns from the same senatorial district. In Bayelsa, a
presiding officer was offered money to manipulate the results; another
was abducted and made to give a false declaration.
“Overall, at least
39 people were killed in election-related violence and 165 arrested,
including the ADC to the Benue State governor, Olu Power, who was
caught with AK47 rifles and a number of rounds of ammunition. Other
problems included security officials arriving at polling units ahead of
INEC staff which, in some case, left the voting material unescorted,
and poor security arrangements in transporting ballot boxes to
collation centres, with the result that ballot-box snatching was
rendered easy,” he stated.
Mr. Ibrahim,
called on INEC to tackle the problems of the collation and the
announcement of results which have led to allegations of manipulation
at different levels.
The Situation Room
is made up of groups such as Action Aid Nigeria, Transition Monitoring
Group, Centre for Democracy and Development, Justice Development and
Peace Commission, Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, CLEEN Foundation
and Community Life Project, among others.
