Pre-Election
Press Statement: march 9th governorship, state houses of assembly, FCT
Area council and nass supplementary elections
Friday 8th March,
2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On
Saturday 9th March 2019, eligible Nigerian voters will once again
troop out to cast their ballots in the 2019 Governorship, State Houses of
Assembly, FCT Area Council elections. There will be a number of supplementary
elections held to conclude some elections outstanding from the February 23rd
elections.
Election
Monitor has made several observations from the 2019 Presidential and National
Assembly Elections which are provided for in its Interim report and Analysis
documents.
Election
Monitor makes the following recommendations:
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC)
·
INEC
should not relax but ensure that all shortcomings from the presidential and
NASS elections are addressed to ensure optimal conduct of the March 9th
2019 polls. Polls should open at 8am nationwide.
·
Election
Monitor commends INEC in its efforts in results collation in the presidential
and NASS polls despite the significantly increased number of candidates (73 for
the presidential election alone) which resulted in much larger collation sheets
that would obviously require much more time to fill out. However efforts need
to be made to optimize the collation process. Completion of the collation
process by Sunday 10th March 2019 is achievable nationwide for
governorship, state houses of assembly, NASS supplementary and FCT area council
races.
·
There
should be no postponement of the March 9th 2019 elections.
·
It’s
important that polling officials are reminded that all locations which
deliberately refuse to use the smart card reader will be scored as zero.
·
The
regular public briefings by INEC state offices is commendable especially since
these are state elections. However, INEC
National should consider briefing the press about the nationwide level of its
preparations on Friday, 8th March 2019.
·
Polling
officials should demonstrate how to effectively fold the ballot papers before
polling commences and explain that any finger can be used to mark the ballot
paper while caution should be exercised to ensure that finger prints don’t
exceed the boxes provided.
·
Election
Monitor commends INEC for opening up the INEC Situation Room which increased
transparency of the process. Election Monitor encourages all stakeholders to
take advantage of this in the forthcoming elections as INEC has notified that
it would once again provide access to this facility.
Nigeria Police Force
(NPF) and other security agencies
·
The
Police must ensure adequate security provisions for all voters before, during
and after the elections.
·
Security
for all INEC officials (adhoc and regular) is critical and must not be
compromised. Security agencies need to ensure that there should be no
incidences of INEC officials being assaulted or harassed at any time.
Incidences of indiscriminate detention of INEC officials must not be repeated
as this also contributed to the delay in election results collation in some
locations during the presidential and NASS polls.
·
Election Monitor commends the Police for
arresting 323 electoral offenders from various parts of the country during the
Presidential and NASS elections. However more efforts need to be made to ensure
that all election riggers are brought to book for the forthcoming polls.
·
Votebuying
was still fairly regular in the February 23rd 2019 polls. It is
germane for increased efforts to be made to significantly mitigate votebuying
in the next elections.
·
Security
agents need to foil attempts by political thugs to disrupt elections in polling
units which would lead to cancellations and disenfranchisement of voters.
Cancellations have to be brought to the barest minimum.
·
The
Police needs to do more to bring to book those who peddle false election
results on social media and in some cases reference international observer
groups as their source. This is criminal and capable of fueling discontent
amongst citizens. There is no record of any accredited international observer
group providing alternate election results and indeed this does not lie within
their purview.
·
Security
agencies especially the Police as well as the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) should continue publicizing their contact details/hotlines on
social media, mainstream media etc.
·
Armed security patrols need to improve and
accelerate their response times to get to polling units so as to provide
unarmed agents effective, sufficient and timely backup to prevent thugs from
successfully disrupting elections.
·
Security
agencies need to ensure effective security at Registration Are Centres (RACs)
as well as collation centres and for collation officials and INEC personnel at
the various centres while ensuring that INEC authorized/accredited persons are
allowed access.
·
The
Nigeria Police Force, NSCDC, military and other security agencies involved in
the March 9th 2019 State elections should ensure professionalism, neutrality
and constitutionality in the discharge of their functions.
·
Election
Monitor commends the Police on its embargo on unauthorised use of
unmarked/covered vehicle number plates.
Federal Government
·
Election
Monitor calls on the Federal Government to consider hosting an Electoral Reform
Conference (two or three days) to identify gaps in the electoral process and
create lasting solutions to ensure better quality elections in the future. The
following key issues should be prioritized:
o
The
use of technology in future elections.
o
Ensuring
seamless funding for INEC all through the electoral cycle.
o
Effective
mitigation of electoral violence.
o
Increasing
voter participation in elections.
o
Improved
approach to enhancing the legal framework for elections.
o
Addressing
the proliferation of political parties while keeping the democratic space open.
o
Increasing
internal democracy in political parties.
National Assembly
·
Election
Monitor calls on the National Assembly to make more inputs to the Electoral Act
(Amendment) Bill including more public engagements as a result of new
perspectives arising from the conduct of the 2019 General elections. It is
recommended that the new bill be transmitted to the President for assent before
the end of April 2019.
·
Election Monitor notes that the Federal House
of Representatives has concluded the second reading of the 2019 Budget while
the Senate is yet to commence the first reading. The Senate and indeed the
entire National Assembly should ensure timely review and passage of the 2019
Appropriation Bill. The over 4 months which the INEC budget spent with the
National Assembly in 2018 should be avoided as this puts strains on the election
management body especially as relates to procurement and effective election
preparation.
Media
·
Media
organizations have generally improved the quality of their election coverage
which is commendable. However more efforts are required to ensure diverse
opinions on critical electoral issues.
·
Online
media should avoid disseminating unverified information especially as relates
to violence and election results.
Political parties
·
Parties
must refuse to disrupt election conduct using thugs as this does not help the
process.
·
Political
parties must ensure they engage well trained and civil party agents to increase
the quality of their observations.
International observer
Groups
·
Foreign
observers need to respond swiftly to misinformation intentionally spread by
detractors about their observer missions. Several fictitious election results
were flying around the social media before and after the official declaration
of results by INEC in the Presidential and NASS polls. Many of these results
cited international observer missions as their sources. This is important
because some citizens may be taken in by these shenanigans and form opinions
not based on the truth.
·
International
observer groups should consider making their main findings using infographs as
well for social media dissemination. There were some cases of people
intentionally distorting the conclusions of some foreign observer missions with
a view to mislead the public. In some cases this elicited vitriol from other
social media users who believed the misinformation. Not all people will take
the time to read the foreign observer reports in detail and thus such persons
can be easily persuaded by fake news.
Domestic Observer Groups
·
Domestic
observers are urged to put in their best efforts to ensure effective
observation of the March 9 2019 polls.
Election
Monitor encourages citizens and all stakeholders to remain peaceful and law
abiding before, during and after the elections. Voters should ensure that they
turn out to vote.
God
bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria
Signed
Abiodun
Ajijola
National
Coordinator
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