• IGP accuses IPOB, Yoruba Nation agitators of working to disrupt polls
•Anxiety as parties wait on Commission to effect changes on candidates list
From the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, yesterday came a warning that the spate of attacks on the organisation’s facilities in parts of the country, if not checked, could compromise next year’s elections.
Police Inspector General, Alkali Usman, warned that secessionist groups were working towards disrupting the polls.
The various political parties are anxiously expecting INEC’s changes on the list of candidates for the elections following some recent court rulings.
Yakubu told the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee Investigating the Attacks on Offices and Facilities of INEC in Abuja yesterday that while the commission was determined to continue with preparations for the elections, the continuing attacks on its facilities constituted a serious threat.
“We are determined that we would continue with our preparations for the 2023 general elections. So far, all the facilities would be rebuilt or alternatives found and materials would be replaced,” he said.
He added: “However, should such attacks continue at the pace at which they are happening at the moment, the Commission may find it increasingly difficult to recover in good time for the election. If it is about stopping the attacks, yes we can recover, but if the attacks continue it would be very difficult for the commission to recover.
“That is why concerted efforts to stop these attacks have become imperative and we hope this public hearing would contribute to the required outcome.”
The commission, he said, would make alternative arrangements to deal with facilities that have been destroyed so far.
His words: “The attacks have far reaching implications on preparation for the general elections. First, the facilities that are destroyed, especially offices, would take time to rebuild. They are not like items of procurement that you can procure off the shelf. So an alternative arrangement has to be made.
“So in some of the states, in addition to these malicious attacks, other matters that have arisen as a result of fire and flooding, we would have to make alternative arrangements by renting. In some places we can find facilities to rent. In some of the remote areas, we may not find facilities to rent. So we have to look for alternative to damaged facilities.
“Secondly several materials lost would have to be replaced. In the recent attacks, some of the PVCs for instance were lost. But for the PVCs we have instructed our state offices to send the Voter Identification Numbers of the PVCs lost so we can reprint. We can from our database quickly regenerate and reprint the cards so that citizens are not disenfranchised.
“The Commission and security agencies must also continue to provide safety around the facilities and this as I said earlier may be very challenging, because the security agencies are also protecting all of us and other national assets. So these attacks on our facilities are actually other challenges that our security agencies can do without.”
He cited the example of INEC facility in Izzi LGA of Ebonyi State which was first attacked on 18th May 2012.
“We found the resources in our election project plan budget to rebuild the office and we did so. We rebuilt the office and our staff moved in on Friday. That weekend on Sunday the office was burnt down again and there are five such offices nationwide where in spite of our best efforts, the facility was attacked not only once but twice. We have five offices in which even after rebuilding or trying to rebuild, the offices were attacked again.”
But the committee expressed shock at the revelation made by the Deputy Director in charge of Prosecution in the Federal Ministry of Justice , Yusuf Abdullahi, that the office of the Attorney General of the Federation was yet to receive any report from INEC or any other security agency over the issue.
IGP:Secessionist groups bent on disrupting 2023 elections
Also testifying before the House Committee ,the Police IG,represented by the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in charge of Department of Operations, Dandaura Mustapha, blamed politicians and secessionist groups in the South East and South West for the violence ahead of the elections,citing the recent attacks on INEC facilities in Osun,Ogun,Ebonyi,Imo and Enugu States.
Said he:”When INEC finally lifted on campaigns — the campaigns commenced and what we realised initially were inter and intra-party disputes. We realised that members of political parties were destroying billboards, posters, destruction of campaign offices in some parts of the states.
“This we quickly alerted the Commissioner of Police in charge of the commands and gave them clear directive that it is the right of every political party to go to all the nooks and crannies of the society and campaign.
“It is a constitutional right.
“We now come to the immediate attack on INEC facilities. Of recent, the ones that took place in Osun and Ogun, then last week in Ebonyi, Imo and Enugu.
“What we discovered is that — we all know in this country, it is a well- known fact that in the South-East geo-political zone we have issues of secessionists — the IPOB and ESN. These groups are bent on stopping elections from taking place in the South-East.
“They have been attacking our personnel, they have been killing our personnel. They have been retrieving arms from members of the security agencies, not only the police – the military and other paramilitary organisations that are there.
“They have been doing it, especially now that the embargo on campaigns has been lifted. The election is approaching very fast and they are putting much pressure to see that the elections do not hold in the South-East political zone.
“In the South-West, we equally have the pro-Yoruba secessionists that are equally bent on succeeding and not allowing elections to take place in their areas, hence the attack on INEC in Osun and Ogun of recent. Those ones too were sponsored by politicians and other stakeholders.
“There is also the issue of failed and desperate politicians who are bent on stopping INEC from conducting the elections. The failed politicians are those who could not come back through any political parties, and as far as they are concerned, let everything spoil, let everything scatter. They are using that opportunity to sponsor illiterate followers of the party and hoodlums to make sure that the general elections do not hold and should not be successful.
He said the police authorities have been meeting with other security agencies to find a solution to the problem, and sought more funding for the police.
The Commandant Civil Defense, Ahmed Audi, spoke along the same line of argument.
He said:”It is glaring that one of the reasons for the attacks is to prevent INEC from conducting free, fair and credible elections.
“It might disenfranchise some people and cost government money. We have increased deployment of men to curtail the attacks. We have also mounted surveillance on facilities across the country”
He noted that the nature of the attacks is very new in Nigeria.
Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, said it was disturbed by the systematically orchestrated attacks not only because they posed a threat to INEC’s capacity to conduct the 2023 general elections, but also because of their implications for democratic governance.
“It was on this basis that the House of Representatives not only unequivocally condemned these nefarious attacks, but also resolved to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incessant attacks on INEC facilities.
“We are indeed hopeful that at the end of this investigation, the Committee would be able to come up with far reaching recommendations that will not only bring an end to these unfortunate attacks on our democracy, but also ensure that the perpetrators of the nefarious acts will be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Gbajabiamila said.
Three INEC offices have been burnt in Abia State by gunmen over the last seven years.
They are those in Obingwa, Isiala Ngwa South and Ohafia Local Government Areas.
While the Obingwa and Isiala Ngwa South offices were attacked in 2015 and 2019 respectively, the attack on the INEC office in Ohafia LGA took place on May 10, 2021.
However, the Public Relations Officer of INEC in Abia State, Bamidele Oyetunde confirmed that the INEC offices attacked by the arsonists have been rebuilt and staff working assiduously to ensure successful 2023 general elections.
The commission has also commenced rehabilitation of its facilities in Ezra North and Ebonyin LGAs of Ebonyi State that were attacked in May last year.
Work is expected to commence soon on that of Izzi LGA .Last Monday’s early morning attack on the State headquarters of INEC in Imo State is the third in the state within one year, according to an investigation.
The commission’s office in Orlu LGA was attacked on Thursday,December 1, 2022 and that of Oru West LGA on Sunday, 4th December 2022.
Rehabilitation work on the affected offices is already in progress.
The INEC public relations officer in the state, Dr Chinenye Chijoike-Osuji told The Nation that work has started on damaged facilities at the commission three offices in the state.
“We have started renovation work at the three offices damaged during the attacks. Work is seriously going on at Orlu, Oru West and the headquarters.”
She added: “We are going to meet up before the 2023 general election since it is not entire new building we are constructing, we will restore the structures before the election.”
On security, the state police Command spokesman, CSP Michael Abattam assured the public of their safety before, during and after the election.
“We do not want to disclosed our plan but we have fortified security around INEC facilities and other infrastructure in readiness for the election”, he said.
Read Also: 4 killed in attack on another INEC office in Southeast
The commission also said it has restored the facilities destroyed by unknown gunmen in seven LGAs in Enugu State in readiness for the 2023 general elections.
Speaking with The Nation in his office in Enugu, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner(REC), Dr. Chukwuemeka Joseph Chukwu, said the commission had since renovated the buildings and provided all the equipment necessary for the success of the 2023 elections in the affected areas.
“I want to tell you that I just signed the completion form for two of our LGA offices for one or two contractors,” he said.
“In Enugu State, we are reconstructing six local government offices of the INEC. They include Udenu, Nsukka, Oji River, Awgu, Ezeagu, Nkanu East and the rest of them. We have six of them and the seventh one is on the pipeline”, the REC said.
He added, “We have it in these categories: major and minor. Already, we have signed two. Within a week or two, others could be ready, except one local government area that was attacked few months ago. Before mid January, that office will be ready.”
Chukwu disclosed that the commission was now using community partnership to protect INEC offices and officials in state.
On the ongoing distribution of permanent voters cards (PVCS), the REC said the commission in the state had received the PVCs and had since commenced distribution to their owners.
Anxiety as parties await INEC to effect changes on candidates’ lists
Ahead of the elections, the atmosphere is tensed in some states of the federation as the political parties and candidates eagerly await INEC to effect required changes on its final list of candidates for the governorship, National Assembly and State Assembly polls.
This follows rulings by the courts on the multiple cases filed by aggrieved candidates in respect of the primaries held by the parties earlier in the year.
Some of the candidates whose names were published by the commission have been sacked by the courts which ordered that some other names be accepted by INEC as the authentic candidates
Consequently, the parties and candidates are waiting for the commission to remove the names of sacked candidates and replace them with the ones ordered to be recognized by INEC by the Courts.
Some of the judgements have been appealed to further compound the confusion trailing INEC’s lists.
In Ogun State for instance, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) expects INEC to include the name of its governorship candidate and others on its list following the victory of the faction loyal to Hon. Ladi Adebutu at the appellate court. INEC had left out the names of PDP candidates in the state in obedience to a court order which declared the primary elections that produced them as illegal.
But the Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, last week, reversed the judgment cancelling the primaries which produced Adebutu and others as validly elected candidates of the party in the state and restored their victory in the primary.
Adebutu’s spokesperson, Afolabi Orekoya, while speaking on the development, said the leadership and members of the PDP in the state are eagerly waiting for INEC to do the needful by adding the names of the party’s candidates to the lists of contestants following the judgement of the appellate court. Some of the affected candidates who spoke with The Nation confirmed that their various campaign activities have been negatively affected by the omission of their names from INEC’s list.
In Abia State, leaders and members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) are waiting to see how INEC will react to the judgment of a Federal High Court in Abuja that nullified the party’s governorship primary election. During the primary held on May 29, Professor Greg Ibe, whose name is currently on INEC’s list, polled 283 votes to defeat other contestants, including his closest rival, Etigwe Uwa, who scored 148 votes. Chikwe Udensi, another governorship aspirant, scored 36 votes.
Aggrieved, Udensi approached the court to challenge the outcome of the primary. He prayed the court to declare him the winner of the APGA gubernatorial primary election, or alternatively, order the conduct of a fresh election.
In the judgment,Justice Binta Nyako, ordered a fresh primary election within 14 days. Nyako held that from the evidence and testimonies of witnesses, the governorship primary was flawed and marred by irregularities. She consequently nullified the election and ordered the party to conduct another exercise. But the national leadership of APGA faulted the court verdict saying that it would challenge the judgement at the appellate court. It refused to conduct a fresh election.
Similarly, following the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt to set aside the judgement of the Federal High Court nullifying the primaries that produced all the candidates of the APC in Rivers State for 2023 general elections, party leaders and members are expecting INEC to add the names of the party’s candidate to its list.
On October 25, Justice Emmanuel Adema Obile of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt nullified the primary elections conducted by the party in the state over the unlawful exclusion of some party members as delegates to the primaries.
Dissatisfied with the judgement of the Federal High Court, the aggrieved parties in Suit Nos: CA/PH/505/2022 (Nwankwo Ndubuisi Ozojie & 47 Ors v. George Orlu & 7 Ors) and CA/PH/521/2022 (INEC v. George Orlu & 6 Ors) approached the Court of Appeal. In a unanimous decision last Thursday, the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Muhammed Lawal Shuaibu, JCA, upheld the submissions of the appellants and restored all APC candidates back to the ballot.
In Akwa Ibom State, members of a faction of the APC are waiting for INEC to delist the name of former governor, Godswill Akpabio, as the senatorial candidate of the party in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District. The former Minister’s name was published by INEC on its list.
But the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal has set aside the judgment of Federal High Court Abuja, removing Godswill Akpabio as APC candidate. A three-member panel of justices read by Justice Danlami Senchi on Monday held that Akpabio failed to file a proof of arguments within the time provided by the rules.
The panel further ruled that Akpabio, being a presidential aspirant of the APC, could not participate in the valid primary of the party held on May 27 and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which produced Udom Ekpoudom as a candidate. There are similar developments in other states of the federation including Edo, Ebonyi and Kano.
