The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) after a thorough analysis of the field reports from its deployed observers, international election observers and other election observer networks, is in a position to make the following fact-based observations:
The just concluded Osun State Governorship election was conducted in a largely orderly and peaceful manner throughout the 30 LGAs (Local Government Areas) and 322 wards of the state. The Situation Room notes that all critical stakeholders worked together to deliver an election that closely approximated the electoral wishes of the people of Osun State.
The Situation Room in a very special way congratulates the people of Osun State for their exemplary conduct at the polls.
According to the field reports by the Situation Room network, the consensus was that security personnel largely conducted themselves in a polite and professional manner in maintaining the peace.
The Situation Room also acknowledges the improved performance of INEC in conducting this election as a reassuring sign leading up to the general elections in 2015. The Situation Room notes that since the challenges of the Anambra State election, INEC has remarkably improved.
The Situation Room has taken a position on the following key issues:
General Observations: The Situation Room restates that the Osun State Governorship elections was in the main conducted in a peaceful, orderly manner but some challenges were noted in some of the voting precincts as listed below:
In some voting units the materials arrived late, but typically the voter accreditation process started within an hour after the stipulated time of 8.00am.
There were reports that some of INEC’s Ad hoc staff were not fully trained and stumbled over some of the proper management procedures at the polls.
There were reported incidents of blatant vote buying by party agents and representatives in some polling units.
There were also reports of politically motivated assisted voting in support of elderly voters who were tele-guided to vote for a particular candidate.
There were reports by some observers that they were harassed by party agents in the Ife wards and chased off.
There were reports of unexplained arrests and detention of some politicians. Some observers witnessed the arrest of voters by two masked security operatives who yanked these voters off the lines.
There were reports by some observers that armed and hooded security officials were seen at the polling units standing in close proximity to the voting stations in contravention of electoral regulations.
The Security Deployment: Situation Room’s analysis of the presence and performance of the multi-agency security machine is mixed. The Situation Room specifically expresses serious concerns on the following issues:
There was the disturbing presence of masked security operatives particularly from the Department of State Security (DSS), who reportedly intruded in the electoral process in some polling units and generally menaced the public and election monitors and observers. This culture of hooded gunmen ostensibly acting in the capacity of legitimate state operatives is thoroughly condemned and has no place in nurturing a democracy in which the citizens are not terrorized by agents of State.
There was no formal registry of the names, numbers and specific functions of the various armed agencies that were deployed in Osun State, raising questions about the authenticity, legitimacy and functions of some of the armed groups seen.
We also note the inability of the Nigerian Police to take good care of deployed personnel. This trend of not making adequate plans for their accommodation and allowances needs to be investigated and rectified.
There were reports of arrests of politicians that was not officially clarified by the Inter Agency Task Team on Security or the State Commissioner of Police thereby providing the contesting political parties with ammunition for inflammable rhetoric that threatened to disturb the peace and orderliness of the elections. The Situation Room therefore calls for a thorough investigation of these allegations and urges the aggrieved to seek redress through legitimate means. We call on the Inter Agency Task Team to work with civil society to develop clear RULES OF ENGAGMENT for security personnel to reduce incidences of abuse.
The Political Class: The Nigerian Political class represents the weakest link in the democratic value chain. The cited reports of attempts at vote buying at the polls is just another symptom of the reckless practice of politicians.
The large and technically unsustainable deployment of security agents during governorship elections is designed to stop the serial subversion of the political and democratic processes by politicians. The Situation Room is concerned that the presence of security personnel have not stopped incidences of vote buying in elections.
The Situation Room believes that leading up to 2015, the strategic approach should be to pre-empt the excesses and impunity of political parties by enforcing the rules of elections. The Situation Room believes that in spite of our flawed legal and judicial system, it is still possible for INEC to use existing electoral laws to enforce this.
Politicians are called upon to desist from continually undermining the electoral process through their desperate practices.
INEC: INEC’s performance in conducting the election in Osun State is very commendable. The Situation Room notes that to achieve their stated goal of delivering ‘free and fair ’election in Osun State, INEC has had to deploy a sizeable chunk of its top management cadre. Considering that Osun State has about one million registered voters, the challenge of replicating this kind of deployment in 2015 for over sixty million registered voters across the thirty-six states of Nigeria and the FCT is daunting if not entirely impossible.
The Situation Room therefore expresses concern about the ability of INEC to comparatively scale-up its administrative capacity and ability to deliver ‘free and fair’ elections across the realm. The issue is the economics of scale that will be required to replicate this state success nationwide.
The Situation Room believes that to be able to successfully pull off the 2015 elections, INEC will necessarily need the support of all well-meaning Nigerians working together to secure Nigeria’s democratic future through the ballot box. However, the Situation Room notes that as in previous elections there has been poor voter education as evidenced by some minor incidents at the polls. The larger issue is for INEC to drive a successful nation-wide voter and civic education program that fully educates the citizens as to why and how they must vote. This continued gap is a cause for concern leading up to 2015 and beyond.
In conclusion, Situation Room commends the conduct of the Osun State Governorship election and calls on INEC to intensify preparations for the conduct of a free and fair general election in 2015.