Oluomo, an ally of the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu, in a viral video told Igbo people living in Lagos not to bother to come to the polls if they would not vote for the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said it will invite the Lagos State Parks Management Committee Chairman, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo and Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello over the threats they issued against Igbo and political opponents respectively.
Oluomo, an ally of the ‘President-elect’, Bola Tinubu, in a viral video told Igbo people living in Lagos not to bother to come to the polls if they would not vote for the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Bello was captured on video threatening his political opponents in the state.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Tony Ojukwu, disclosed this while addressing journalists on Sunday in Abuja on the preliminary report of the commission on the March 18 Governorship and State Assembly elections.
He hinted that the commission had concluded plans to invite Oluomo and Bello to appear before an investigative panel over alleged inciting statements.
Even though the Kogi State information, Kingsley Fanwo, has reportedly denied the utterances of the governor, the NHRC boss said he (Bello) would be invited to explain his statements.
As part of its mandate to promote and protect human rights, the NHRC said it deployed 600 human rights monitors across the country for the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
Ojukwu said the Commission during the election process monitored among others, issues relating to the conduct of law enforcement and security personnel, hate speech, election-related Sexual and Gender-based violence (SGBV) and vote-buying.
He identified the hitches and irregularities recorded in the presidential election and threats of violence prior to the elections as some of the factors responsible for the voter apathy recorded during the Governorship and State Assembly elections.
“The overall report from our monitors showed that INEC officials and materials arrived relatively early across the country. Our field monitors reported that 7% of polling officials arrived between 6:00 am and 7:00 am, while 40% of the officials arrived between 7:00 am and 8:00 am.
“However, 4% of INEC officials came after 10:00 am, leading to delays in some polling units. Additionally, our monitors reported that voting materials arrived on time in most polling units, with 37% arriving between 7:00 am and 8:00 am and 40% arriving between 8:00 am and 9:00 am. 13% of materials arrived between 9:00 am and 10:00 am while 5% arrived after 10:00 am,” he said.
The Executive Secretary stated that the commission's election monitors reported that the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was generally successful.
He noted that most voters were accredited using BVAS, with only 6% of registered voters not accredited in some polling units, adding that using BVAS for uploading to IReV was successful in many areas monitored.
The Commission called on law enforcement agencies to investigate the attack on the ARISE TV News crew at Elegushi Palace as well as other incidents of violence and bring perpetrators to justice.
It condemned the killings in Lagos, Katsina and Benue states, adding that elections are not war and no life should be lost during elections.