TMG denounces violence, vote buying and apathy in guber polls

The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has said that the main downside of the gubernatorial/state assembly election remains the widespread violence that has permeated states across the country.

In a statement released by its chairman, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, the TMG noted that there have been reports of disruption of election processes by political thugs as they snatched ballot boxes and destroyed election materials across the country. countries, and in extreme cases leading to deaths. .

He said: "During the run-up to the election, there were reports of repression and intimidation of voters with threats of consequences issued by well-known loyalists to some high-ranking politicians in the country. he inability of security agents to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of such threats further emboldened them to wreak havoc on citizens on election day.

"The gubernatorial elections have been further challenged by incidents of voter apathy in many states across the country, following a loss of confidence in the electoral arbiter in the wake of the election result. presidential election. This is becoming a major inconvenience to the country's electoral process, given the growing wave of voter education in the country.

TMG, which has deployed 768 roving observers to 768 local government areas, added that political thugs also carry out voter suppression and intimidation, in most cases in the presence of security agencies.

The group, however, said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made improvements to the logistical delivery and functionality of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

He criticized the security arrangements, saying it was one of the most violent elections in Nigeria's recent history.

“Journalists and observers have also been victims of intimidation and attacks; for example, a TMG observer was physically attacked in Kano,” he said.

The group reiterated that the failure of the police to respond to voter intimidation in the run-up to national elections has emboldened the political brutality and electoral violence that has pervaded Nigeria's gubernatorial election.

He noted that the police have the power to eliminate these people, no matter who they are related to. He recommended that the police arrest these people and bring them to justice to act as a deterrent in future elections.

He also recommended that all arrested election violators be publicly prosecuted, while investigations continue, to arrest those who are not yet in the police net.

TMG added “Furthermore, the godfathers of these thugs who wreaked havoc on innocent Nigerians who only sought to express their guaranteed constitutional rights must be caught and prosecuted.

“Several arrests were made across the country for election violations, ranging from disrupting to vote buying. The actions of security officers in these circumstances are noted and commended.

“In some cases, security agents acted quickly to restore order so that voting could continue. Interestingly, the resilience of citizens to fight against disruption and manipulation of elections was widely reported in Lagos , Kano, Abia and Enugu.

“In Kano, citizens moved en masse to escort the results from the polling stations to the collection centers. These acts of peaceful resilience on the part of citizens are also welcomed as they show the aspiration of Nigerians for a genuine democratic process. »

TMG said that vote swapping has surfaced again and taken on even more serious dimensions than those recorded in the presidential election.

“In states like Kaduna, Kano, Cross River, Ogun, Ebonyi and Bauchi, the open conduct of vote buying has permeated the process. In some cases, when officials from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) decided to arrest the culprits, the officers were attacked.

"Gubernatorial elections have been further challenged by incidents of voter apathy in many states across the country following a loss of confidence in the electoral arbiter following the result of the presidential election. This is becoming a major inconvenience to the country's electoral process given the growing wave of voter education in the country."

Rafsanjani added that reports from TMG observers showed that the BVAS was working well in most state polling stations, noting that accreditation processes were smooth with the device concluding a voter's validation. within 10 seconds.

“However, pockets of incidence of BVA malfunction have been recorded, in such rare cases, TMG observers also reported that officers quickly corrected problems. This is an area of ​​concern. significant improvement over the presidential election where BVAS dysfunction was widespread.

"Similarly, the central data center has been closely monitoring the INEC Results Visualization Portal (IReV) for real-time downloading of results...