“The level of intimidation that occurred during the elections on Saturday was disheartening and shouldn’t be allowed to stand in modern-day Nigeria," the group said. "Other incidents that we recorded will be made open in our findings, which will definitely shock Nigerians and expose the conspiracy of INEC, security agents and the APC to deprive the people of Ekiti from expressing their constitutional rights.”
A coalition of observer groups and civil society organisations that monitored Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State has condemned the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had announced Kayode Fayemi, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election, saying he polled 197,459 votes to beat Professor Olusola Eleka, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 178,121 votes.
However, in a statement obtained by SaharaReporters, the coalition said the result announced by INEC does not reflect their own findings during the election.
Haruna Farouk and Adachi Okoro, heads of the monitoring coalition, said it was regrettable that INEC and security agencies could be used to short-change the people of the state.
It vowed to open up on its findings by Wednesday July 18, 2018 with comprehensive details of rigging and malpractice at the poll.
The coalition also added it had in its possession evidence of massive rigging by a particular political party
“We have evidence of election malpractices where a particular party in connivance with security personnel went about inducing the electorate with cash and coercing them to snap the ballot papers in order to receive cash gifts from the agents of the party in question.
“The level of intimidation that occurred during the elections on Saturday was disheartening and shouldn’t be allowed to stand in modern-day Nigeria.
"We witnessed a situation where loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and its agents were harassed and intimidated so as to make it difficult for them to participate in the elections.
“Other incidents that we recorded will be made open in our findings, which will definitely shock Nigerians and expose the conspiracy of INEC, security agents and the APC to deprive the people of Ekiti from expressing their constitutional rights.”
The coalition further called on all the international community to condemn the “political terrorism” that took place against the people of Ekiti State on Saturday.
It stressed that the voice of the international community against the actions of the Federal Government, INEC and security agents would help put pressure on the government to do the right thing.