Officials of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) are encouraged by the commitment of Nigerians to the democratic process but have raised concerns about the elections on 14 April.
On Monday, the EUOEM urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to work with all stakeholders to ensure improvements in the federal ballot this Saturday.
“The people of Nigeria deserve credit for the admirable way in which they conducted themselves (last) Saturday and demonstrated their commitment to democracy by patiently waiting to vote in often difficult circumstances,” Max van den Berg, the Chief Observer, said in a statement.
But he noted that “preparations for the elections should have been of a higher standard and must be substantially improved in the coming days to deliver a credible and secure process at the federal elections.”
EU observers, deployed in 33 states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, reported that polling stations opened very late in most parts of the country, due mainly to the late arrival of officials and insufficient or non-delivery of materials.
Polling stations did not open at all in a number of cases, they said, and in several polling stations, only two election officials were present rather than the three foreseen by INEC regulations � which often led to party agents becoming involved in administering the process.
Procedures were often not followed correctly, and secrecy of the ballot was frequently not guaranteed due to the absence of polling booths and poor layout of polling stations, they added.
Besides, “under age voting was witnessed in a number of states. Last minute court rulings created uncertainty about the final list of candidates on ballot papers in a number of states.”
The statement said these problems led to tension and confusion that at times resulted in violence, which regrettably, according to official reports, resulted in at least 50 people being killed over the election day period, and in chaos, including incidents of hijacking of ballot boxes by groups of thugs.
Irregularities were noted during the counting and collation processes, including incidents of disruption and absence of counting at polling stations and examples of significant discrepancies between results at polling station and council collation level.
The observers want the INEC to rectify these problems before the ballot on Saturday and ensure that polling stations are provided with all materials in sufficient time to enable them open at 8.00 a.m., staffed throughout the day by three polling officials.
“Clear instruction and guidance should be given by the INEC to promote full adherence to polling, counting and collation procedures.
“Strenuous efforts must be made to guarantee the secrecy of the ballot, as well as full transparency of the counting and collation processes through a wider distribution of results sheet copies, including to domestic observers, the public posting of result sheets at all polling stations and the swift publication of polling station results at all levels.”
ActionAid International, Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation which deployed observers in 16 states, also demanded strategies to solve the problems as well as the beefing up of security in all polling stations and hot spots.
Its interim report berated the INEC for its poor logistics which were worse on election day.
In any case, pro-democracy and Labour activists are mobilising to resist the manipulation of results.
Protests and violence have trailed the announcement of results in Edo, Osun, Ekiti, Imo, Kano, Ogun, Oyo, Katsina, and Ondo, among other states.
Mobilisation began on Monday when an official of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Denja Yakubu, was mandated by the leaders of the Labour-Civil Society Coalition to circulate the notice to that effect.
Democracy activists are enraged by the reported rigging in several states.
Leader of Coalition for Democracy and Rule of Law (CODERL), Wale Okunniyi, condemned the INEC for a shoddy job, and warned the commission to reverse falsified results or else the Civil Society would move against it.
The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), on Monday announced its rejection of the governorship and Assembly election results in 10 states � among them Anambra, Adamawa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kogi, Nasarawa, Ogun, and Ondo � because of irregularities.
Its Chairman, Innocent Chukwuma, said more than 80 people have died over the polls. He condemned the killings and called on the security agencies to guard against a re-occurrence as well as intimidation of voters.