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Tag: ELECTION

Election reporting: Knocks for the watchdog

The role of the media throughout the electioneering period was under the spotlight recently at a two-day workshop organised by Media Scholars Network (MSN). At the event, the partisan role of the media was highlighted by scholars and professionals, Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN reports.

Media scholars and practitioners gathered recently to give an appraisal on the performance of the media before, during and after the presidential election. It was at the two-day workshop organised by the Media Scholar Network (MSN) in collaboration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It was held at the Conference Hall, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, under the theme: “Fair Election Reporting: Sustaining Best Practices”.

Convener, Professor Ayo Olukotun, set the ball rolling when he said the role of the media in election coverage is an issue that has generated debate and controversy at scholarly and polemical levels. It is not for nothing that observer groups monitoring elections in developing democracies have constantly fingered the lack of media level playing-field at election seasons as an obstacle to free and fair elections as to democratic consolidation.

Olukotun, a lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, noted that the international observer groups monitoring Nigerian elections such as the European Union (EU) have complained consistently of biased coverage of elections, as well as differential access of political parties to the media. Their complaint is corroborated by the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of domestic civil society groups which is engaged in election monitoring, he said.State-owned media are particularly guilty of this, according to the don. “They do not operate as public service media, but as more or less the mouthpieces of the political parties that control them. Also in the same category are privately-owned media where interests of the proprietor interfere with objective reporting,” he added.

Professor Lai Oso of the Department of Mass Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), also lamented that a lot of media organisations took sides and were biased in their reportage and coverage of different political parties and their activities. He said rather than give fair hearing to all candidates and their political parties, some media organisations decided to show solidarity to some candidates and to vilify others. This, he said, was a total deviation from the code of ethics that guides the media profession.

On ethical conduct, Oso said: “Good journalism requires decent conduct that conforms to acceptable social norms, values and ethical codes.” Oso was equally miffed by the role played by the management of some print and electronic media. He said they threw caution to the wind and behaved like politicians.

He said: “Editors dished out opinions as news, projected hate speeches, hate documentaries for selfish interest. Some newspapers editors could not apply their sense of judgment to turn down adverts that was intended to incite the public against opposition candidates or leaders? Why should an editor accept a death wish advert to be published in his paper? Why should editors be consulting for political parties campaign organisations? These are sad developments that must be addressed by regulatory agencies for the sake of the future of journalism in this country.”

According to him, “the media was expected to be the unifying factor for all interest groups, but unfortunately some media executives were brazenly partisan. If politicians come with raw and indecorous content, is it not the media’s responsibility as professionals to determine what will suit the sensitivities and sensibilities of Nigerian readers and viewers by toning down such adverts or asking the advertiser to go and refine his production?

In his paper titled: “Objectivity in Journalism: An Elusive Ideal”, Oso explained that the way and manner political gladiators conducted themselves and their politics no doubt influenced the way journalists behaved as producers of news and the type of political news available to them. “In a society where almost everything is seen from the prisms of religion, ethnicity, region and other differences, it is very difficult for the journalist to adhere to any universal notion of objectivity or other ethical principle,” he said.

In his own assessment, a South Africa-based communication specialist, Mr Bunmi Makinwa, opined that the media could have done much better than they did in the coverage of pre-voting phase of the presidential election. According to him: “The crucial communication exchange between candidates and electorate, facilitated by the media, hardly took place. The knowledge of candidates, understanding of issues, analysis of performance of candidates and political parties hardly featured in any serious way in many of the media.

“The mass media failed unreservedly in its professional duty of being a source of information and education of the populace. In analyses of information, verification of facts by parties, ascertaining claims by candidates, there was too little of substance. And whatever little that was done was not prominent in most of the media and even less so in newspapers that traditionally serve such important purposes. Many candidates are yet really unknown and surprises should be expected from people who will assume political offices.

“Even in the use of adverts, positioning of candidates and political parties, the public media especially did very poorly. A major area of uneasiness was the easy acquiescence of the official media organisations to unbridled use (more of misuse) by their government owners, both federal and state. The situation went even further: public roads, offices, buildings and other infrastructure were “colonized” by the said governments and wantonly used for their messaging, adverts and promotion, including excluding opposition from their uses, even when they wanted to pay as required. Such abuse of official organs and structures should stop. There should be better regulation, monitoring and sanctions of uses of public facilities during electioneering. It is encouraging that some political parties sought court interventions and obtained judgment against the abuse.”

In assessing the media coverage of the presidential election, former Editor of National Interest, Mr Tony Iyare, noted that the Nigerian Media Code of Election Coverage sets the guidelines of the conduct of journalists in reporting election issues in all spheres. Many of the guidelines, he observed, were observed in breach across board.

For instance, Section 1.0 which deals with equitable access says: “The performance of campaign platform and public role of the Nigerian media during election requires deference to the right of parties and candidates in elections to equitable media access especially as envisaged by legislative and institutional frameworks and other relevant instruments including the Electoral Act (as amended), the Nigerian Broadcasting Code (as revised) and the Nigerian Press Organisation Code of Ethics for Nigerian journalists. It also requires giving opportunity to under- represented groups to express their views.

Section 1.1 states the responsibility of media organisations to include: A broadcast medium shall ensure equitable allocation of time at specific but similar periods for all parties contesting elections to state their programmes; a media organisation shall regularly apply the principle of equity in the coverage and reportage of campaigns and other activities of parties and candidates contesting elections; a media organisation shall at all times uphold the right of parties and candidates to reply to allegations made against them and that a broadcast medium shall strive to ensure the participation of all parties and candidates contesting elections in political debates.

The code also says in Section 1.2 that a media organisation shall, as a matter of deliberate editorial policy, target under-represented groups, especially women, youths, persons living with disabilities and rural dwellers in the coverage of electoral processes.

According to Iyare, the report of the monitoring project conducted jointly by the International Press Centre and Nigerian Press Council with the support of the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) which covered some national and regional newspapers in addition to online and social medium platforms, generally applauded the media for devoting the highest percentage of the reporting of issues to campaigns, which it argued clearly showed an attemptto bring the attention of voters to what the candidates and parties stand for.

But the report noted “it was regrettable that political and electoral conflicts had the better part of media attention than voter education which really should have been at the core of reporting for the month given the contentious issues of PVCs TVCs and card readers”.

Speaking on the performance of the media, former Editorial Board Chairperson of the Nigerian Compass, Mrs Tayo Agunbiade said some reports were obviously biased, while many adverts contained inflammatory comments. According to her, the media didn’t exhibit a high level of professionalism in handling the last election, particularly as it regards publication of hate speeches. There were clear violations of the ethics.

“In the aspect of conflict and sensitivity, the media failed to live up to expectations. There were sensational headlines There were significant areas of non compliance with the code of conduct while there were few areas of compliance.

“Procedures should be established that monitor and ensure that election reporting prior to, during and after is fair, unbiased, neutral, non-partisan and not sensational. We must ensure that space are allocated to all parties fairly and reports should be balanced and not in favour of any party or persons.”

To guide against partisan role of the media in future election coverage, Makinwa suggested that all publicly-owned media, including public service broadcasters, should respect strict rules of impartiality and balance, particularly when reporting on the governing party/parties and on government decisions and actions during an election period. This implies that equal coverage should be given to arguments in favour of both sides in any referendum.

The media should grant all parties and candidates equitable access to communicate their messages directly with the public, either for free or at subsidised rate. Equitable access means fair and non-discriminatory access allocated according to objective criteria for measuring overall levels of support, and includes factors such as timing of access and any fees.

Olukotun stressed the need for continuous training and re-training programmes for journalists. He said: “It is important that journalists and stakeholders in the information enterprise from time to time to meet to review their craft with a view to determining whether they are maintaining or falling short of best practices.

“Obviously the role of the media in providing accurate information and objective reporting as well as analysis in a season of election cannot be over-emphasised. The media are crucial to the dissemination of credible information as well as providing a communication level playing field to the principal competitors and even to the electoral umpire, namely the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).”

May 21, 2015
The benefit of election

Elections in Nigeria have been characterised by unfaithfulness, betrayal, rigging, plotting, propaganda, slander, fear, uncertainty, crisis, bloodshed and many more. These ugly features of our supposedly democratic experiment have made election our election to be synonymous with violence. While people, who describe politics as a dirty game may not be wrong in their assessment of our politics, it would only be unfair and myopic to exclusively describe it with those negative features and lock out opportunity for positive views.

With a telescopic eye and good binoculars, one may begin to see election as a business, considering the several opportunities offered by the massive campaigns of political parties, especially now when politics is thought to be do-or-die affair.

The economic boost seen in electioneering cuts across almost all areas of expertise and profession we can think. The opportunities come in form of mouth-watering patronage and contracts. A comprehensive analysis of all beneficiaries is almost impossible, only a few this writer could see are listed here.

How does printing fare during the recent elections? Graphic designers, textile and printing merchants got their fair share, because winning in an election in Nigeria is largely depended on how much publicity a candidate can push out before the polls. This must be done by churning out millions of banners and flyers. The graphic designers had the best time, designing flyers, while printers work every day and night to ensure good quality. The textile workers also share in the ‘booty’ as millions of customised fabrics, vests, shirts and caps were printed and distributed to party adherents and as gifts to voters during campaign.

Enter the media. The press is said to be fourth estate of the realm; the majority of its practitioners did not participate in the actual voting. They cover campaigns, press briefing, election proceedings, interviews, and many more. They gather reports, organise talk shows, analyse issues before and after election. But they share in the election largesse through multi-million advert they get from different political parties and their flag bearers. The online media came out in dramatic manner; they created hashtags and groups to discuss candidates’ popularity. Bloggers never run out of ideas and thus never get “broke”.

How about sports and entertainment industries? Of course, the booty extended to the pitch. As a means of “wetting the ground” for favourable results, politicians sought the service of popular sportsmen. They host various sport competitions, such as Honourable XYZ tournament, and Senator ABC’s cup.

The entertainment industry is another area where the weight of election is greatly felt. Musicians were hired to sing for candidates during campaign, while thespians were engaged in propaganda adverts on television.

The education sector was also shaken to its foundation. The intellectuals in the academic shared in the spoil. Vice-chancellors were employed as returning officers in all the states. Corps members and some undergraduates were used as polling officers.

The sacred temples of our religious organisations erupted in sacrilegious praise-singing. In the last election, we saw political evangelism at its best. Our imams, pastors and even herbalists cannot deny the political patronage they got during elections. Pastors and imams openly told their congregation to support a particular candidate after they got wads of dollars. Herbalists and traditionalists appeased their gods to support candidates who brought dollars.

Networking and telecommunication companies got more patronage during the last general election. Apart from making more calls to ensure smooth running of their campaign, politicians also subscribed to bulk SMS and adverts through different platforms. More data subscription, more calls, more texts led to more money to the service providers.

Manufacturing and production businesses boomed as customised souvenirs, such as bags, plates, dishes, home appliances, electronic gadgets and edible bags of products like rice, garri, sugar etc were specially ordered with candidates’ names and pictures boldly embossed on them.

For lawyers, election litigation is a brisk business. After elections are won and lost, our learned fellows begin to get their own share of the booty. Petitions are filed by losers against winners; court cases are decided on frequently and money keeps coming in for lawyers.

Security agencies are part of the most important stakeholders when it comes to election. Election period is their festive period. People are genuinely and wrongly arrested for inciting violence, wandering or for committing electoral offences, and are charged huge amount of money for bail. Security agents are stationed at polling units and other strategic locations to maintain peace and order and ensure the safety of election materials only after being assured of reward. At other instances, they are employed to hijack and rig in collaboration with hooligans in return for cool cash from their paymasters.

In the transportation sector, the unionists are also on the roll when it comes to election. They unnecessarily hike transport fare due to the rush in election period as people have to travel to their various home or places of registration to vote. They are also employed to mobilise electoral officers from polling unit to collation centers and vice versa.

The list of beneficiaries is inexhaustible and could continue to infinity. What about the market women? They were happy during elections. How much litres of petrol are sold during election and for how much? Considering the epileptic state of electricity and the need to get updates of elections, petrol station made more sales than before.

How about voters who got cash reward for voting for a particular candidate? How about the ones who scrambled for T-shirts and packaged garri? The beneficiaries are uncountable.

Calculating the net expenses on election may be a herculean task for economists or mathematicians. Opportunities open at different ends for those who could see beyond violence; a trial for one is a blessing for another. The pictures are not too far as the just-concluded election shown; whether the businesses are legal or not is a topic for another day. One thing that the last general elections has come to teach us is that, there are more to election than violence. Beyond the violence, there are great business opportunities for all and sundry.

•Yussuf is a student of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UNILAG

May 14, 2015
Jega: INEC helpless on Rivers election results

•Explains why he rejects reappointment

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman Attahiru Jega yesterday explained why the agency could not cancel some election results.

Foreign and local election observers, including civil society organisations (CSOs), have queried the results of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Abia, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers states.

A coalition of CSOs – the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room – in its post-election analysis on April 13, said reports submitted by its members, who monitored elections in three states, showed that the elections were “fraught with irregularities.’’ It expressed concern “about the conduct of the elections in the three states because there are grounds to question the credibility of the results”.

The Situation Room urged INEC to take steps to authenticate the final collated results from the three states against the polling unit results and make a reasoned judgment about them.

Speaking yesterday in Abuja at a dialogue session by the Situation Room, Jega justified the reason his commission could not cancel results from the state as is being requested. He blamed this on some inadequacies in the Elecoral Act.

Jega decried the fact that the INEC in Abuja has little control on the state offices, noting that Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) were given enormous powers in the Electoral Act.

He noted that once a Returning officer declares any election result, “whether the result is false or doctored, there is nothing else we can do about it than to ask the candidates to go the the tribunal to challenge such result.

“There is nothing in the legal framework that gives the INEC chairman the power to cancel results from anywhere following alleged irregularities. We have no power to cancel elections results once returns have been made.”

He said his commission also lacked sufficient evidence to support claims of irregularities in Rivers.

“On the petition on irregularities in Rivers, the commission sent three national commissioners to investigate. Some people don’t want elections to hold, they are the ones calling for cancellation. We investigated the allegation of fake result sheets in Rivers, our reports showed there was nothing like that,” Jega said.

He said there was no way INEC could have conducted the run-off within seven days as provided for in the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

“I heaved a sigh of relief when the election did not result to a run-off. That would have occassioned a big constitutional crisis. This is because the constitution only made provision for seven days for such poll. You and I know there was no way we would have been able to conduct a run-off within seven days”.

He regretted that efforts by INEC to have the Electoral Act and the Constitution amended before the 2015 elections failed. “It would have helped if we had got the amendments,” Jega said adding:

“This is why I emphasise that amendments to the electoral laws should be done in good time. We could have further sanitised the electoral process if we had got some amendments we required in the Electoral Act.”

Jega also explained why he will not accept any offer of reappointment as INEC chairman. He plans to do something else, he said.

He attributed the success recorded in the last elections to the deployment of technology, adding that subsequent elections can be better if the success is sustained.

Said Jega: “Evidently, some people did not want us to use the Card Reader machine. That was why we allowed manual election in some few places where the Card Reader did not function well during the presidential election.

“Some people were already saying we deliberately deployed Card Reader machine that will not work in some zones. And to prove them wrong, we instructed that manual voting takes place in such places. But some people wanted to take advantage of that.

“But in the governorship elections, we ensured that the Card Reader machines worked. We warned the RECs they will be held responsible for any Card Reader that did not work properly.”

Jega added that about 20,000 permanent voter cards were not produced, because the person involved was arrested by the police for allegation that he gave the card reader’s password to a political party.

The INEC chairman admitted that his agency did not do enough to prosecute electoral offenders during the 2011 elections because, according to him, “we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of offenders”.

He expressed delight that INEC was in partnership with the police and the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to prosecute electoral offenders.

Jega urged those with evidence on electoral offences to bring such to the commission, assuring that such will be investigated and tried in court.

Earlier, Situation Room’s Coordinator and Executive Director of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) Clement Nwankwo, restated the group’s position on the elections in Rivers State.

He said: “Situation Room has expressed its concern about the conduct of the elections in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, where there are good grounds to question the credibility of the election results in both states. There are also concerns about Abia State, which recorded multiple cases of electoral misconduct.”

Nwankwo said there were complaints about Resident Electoral Commissioners’ relationship with politicians.

Country Representative of Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) in Nigeria Catherine Weiss, hailed INEC for a job well done.

April 22, 2015
Real losers of the election

SIR: At the end of every battle, a winner inexorably emerges. Forget the famous placatory post civil war remark of General Yakubu Gowon, the Nigerian former Head of state declaring “ no winner, no vanquished” intended as a reconciliatory strategy for integration of victims of the civil war. The Nigerian presidential election has come and gone. While the victor is already known, the losers need to be put in proper perspective, as there is, of course, a loser! The loser is however, most surprisingly, not President Jonathan! He was able to seize the last minute opportunity to retake what had been taken away from him the very first day he mounted the saddle of power: his will! At the dying minute, he got back his will and was able to exercise what he had long cherished to do but held back by the greedy hawks surrounding him. The will to return the country to its destiny. He looked away from the greed, avarice, selfishness and primordial sentiments of the people around him and made the famous telephone conversation to concede victory to General Buhari, his supposed political adversary, even before he was declared the winner, thereby scoring the bull’s eye that may place him on the rank of international statesmen.

That last minute decision! The thief on the cross did it and got salvation. Jonathan has done it and gotten world-wide acclaim, not infamy to which he was initially headed.

The loser of the election is the man who saw the evil and the aberrations that characterised the outgoing government but chose to close his eyes and his mouth while they fester; the loser is the man who failed to speak truth to power and allowed the leader to stew in his own mistakes; the loser is the man who would rather remain with any government in power than threading the path of opposition; the loser is the man who threw morals to the wind to whip up inconceivable sentiments against Gen Buhari; the loser is the man who abandoned his calling to kowtow to the language of the lucres dished out by the government; the loser is the man who had the opportunity to serve the people under this government but chose to go against the will of the people and godly purpose of governance; the losers are the Orubebes, the Fayoses and the Femi Fani-Kayodes of our time and circumstance. While President Jonathan has seized the available last minute opportunity to right his past wrong, placing him on global fame, thereby, how will the true losers redeem their losses now that the principal has come to himself from them?

• Chris Edache Agbiti, Esq

Obla & Co, Central Area, Abuja

April 21, 2015
Taraba election inconclusive

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday declared as “inconclusive”, the governorship election in Taraba State.

It ordered a rerun in some polling units in 30 days.

The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Darius Dickson Ishaku, won the poll in nine local governments with 317,198 votes. Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress (APC) won in six councils with 262,386 votes to emerge second.

The Returning Officer, Prof. Mohammed Kyari, said since the number of cancelled votes was more than the number of the difference in votes (margin) between PDP and APC, there was need to re-conduct the election in the affected areas.

INEC said it cancelled the polls in those areas because of irregularities and pockets of violence.

PDP won with a difference of 54,812 votes, while the number of the cancelled votes in the affected polling units amounted to 127,125 votes.

The commission said there would be rerun in Donga Local Government and some polling units in Chanchanji Ward in Takum “where votes were rejected.”

The rerun in Donga will be across its entire 165 polling units, which PDP claimed to have won.

April 14, 2015
US hails election, urges aggrieved parties to seek redress

The United States Embassy in Nigeria urged all the aggrieved parties in the last Saturday polls to seek redress in the law court.
This is as the embassy congratulated the people of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission for an electoral process on April 11, 2015.
US according to the statement also regreted the reports of violence and alleged irregularities in some states.
The statement reads:
“The United States Embassy in Nigeria congratulates the people of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission for an electoral process on April 11, 2015 that generally went well across the country and built on the success of the March 28 polling process.
“We have seen the reports of violence and alleged irregularities, particularly in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, and call on those dissatisfied to pursue their grievances peacefully in the judicial arena. We regret any loss of life and destruction of property. We commend the leadership of Nigeria’s political parties, notably President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, for urging their supporters to conduct themselves peacefully throughout the electoral process. “

April 13, 2015
APGA to INEC: Cancel Abia North Senatorial election

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, has been urged to cancel the House of Representatives elections in Abia North Senatorial District over alleged irregularities.

Spokesman of the Abia State All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Ejike Oji, who is also the candidate of Abia North Federal House of Representatives, told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that the party will seek redress at the court of law.

Oji said the election process was characterised with abnormalities adding that: “during the election, there were incidences of use of thugs to intimidate voters and beat up party agents, resulting in severe injuries to many innocent voters and party staff. Many of the men and women affected have had to seek treatment in health facilities, due to the extent of their injuries.

“We expect that INEC will investigate these claims and will go on to cancel the elections in Abia North Senatorial District which includes Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency. The elections were a charade and cannot be allowed to stand. We are seeking redress in court and more complains are still coming.”

April 12, 2015
‘How election was manipulated in Akwa Ibom’

The elections of March 28, when Nigerians voted to elect the nation’s new President and members of the National Assembly, are now part of Nigeria’s political history. But the implications of the deleterious actions taken by political actors on that day will live with us every moment of our life.

I witnessed some of these actions while on election duty in Akwa Ibom State. Though I stayed on in Uyo, I was able to tap into a network of contacts comprising accredited journalists, election monitors and local politicians for information about the goings-on in the various local government areas.

Electioneering in Akwa Ibom was at its most intense during the lead-up to polling. The voter turnout on election day was expectedly high, in fact very high. This was where the good news ended.

From thence on things spiralled down the valley. In Akwa Ibom, INEC polling officials reported late at most of the polling units. But there was something even worse than their late arrivals. They, nearly all of them, reported for duty without result sheets with which to record votes as cast for the candidates. The result sheet is one of the sensitive materials that INEC cannot do without and which party agents must look out for at the polling units on Election Day. The absence of the result sheets stoked curiosity and provoked queries from among the voters and party agents.

At his ward in Ndiya, Nsit Ubium local government area, for instance, Mr. Umana Okon Umana, APC governorship candidate for the state, demanded explanation on why the result sheets were not available at the polling unit. The polling officer said right away that the result sheets were taken away by the electoral officer for the area. Umana insisted that the result sheets must be produced as part of the materials needed for the elections. He called the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Austin Okogie to lay a complaint about the missing result sheets. Okogie gave the assurance from his office in Uyo that he would look into and resolve the problem. Of course he never did. Now back to Ndiya. The electoral officer, seeing that Umana and his supporters, rearing to vote, would not budge without the result sheets, quickly produced some copies of what resembled the result sheets. But on closer examination it was not the result sheet issued by INEC. The result sheets produced by the electoral officer lacked the bar code or security feature that sets the genuine, INEC-issued result sheet apart.

Further enquiries as to why the all-important result sheet was missing led to a mind-boggling revelation that the result sheets were removed and sold to the PDP which is bankrolled by the state government. The full story alleged that most copies of the result sheets were in the possession of the state government, which had set up situation rooms to fill them up with numbers of accredited voters relayed to the situation rooms by compromised INEC ad-hoc staff recruited from the NYSC. The concocted results were later passed on to INEC for collation and announcement, the story further alleged.

Two days after the elections, Umana, the APC candidate, led a protest march from his party headquarters on Atiku Abubakar Avenue in Uyo and walked a distance of more than seven kilometres to the INEC office on Udo Udoma Avenue to address the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Austin Okogie, over the widespread irregularities that marked the elections. Mr. Okogie, who did not deny offering to address the issue of missing result sheets as complained of by Umana (which of course he failed to do), however said materials were deployed to the local council areas in the state from the INEC head office in Uyo with all the sensitive components intact.

His comment was drowned in a din of boos by the crowd around him, which distinctly shouted an allegation that the REC had been compromised to do the bidding of the state governor in the elections.

Another point of interest to react to is the role of the police in the elections. I witnessed and learned of actions that are inconsistent with the constitutional duty of the police in the country. I witnessed at a polling unit in a primary school in Ikot Arankere, Ukanafun local council area, where a well known PDP member arrived to cart away a ballot box, ably assisted by officers of the Nigeria Police.

I would learn later that for most part of Ukanafun and Oruk Anam local council areas, the same PDP member, went around simply collecting ballot boxes from polling units, conspicuously assisted by the police.

Reports from my field contacts in Ibesikpo Asutan show that the attacks on the integrity of the elections were even more brazen and lethal than what happened in Oruk Anam. I learnt that a commissioner in the state went around Ibesikpo Asutan with more than 50 policemen who were shooting and snatching ballot boxes. The police allegedly shot and killed two young men who tried to resist the snatching of the ballot boxes. Before the elections, Etuk had warned parents in the area to keep their children away from coming out to vote for opposition parties to avoid harm befalling them.

A similar level of brigandage attended the polls in the five local council areas in the Oro nation; in Etinan, where the police, allegedly following orders from a functionary of the state government, shot and wounded three supporters of the APC for resisting the snatching of boxes in the area. Reports from Ikot Ekpene, Abak, Eket, Ikot Abasi, Nsit Ubium, Attai, Itu, Ikono, etc, painted similar pictures.

At the end of the day, PDP declared total victory in the NASS and Presidential elections in the state. But APC, has protested that there were no elections and petitioned the election umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission to annul the polls. The party has also demanded the reassignment of the current Resident Electoral Commissioner and the Police Commissioner in the state for their roles in the election fiasco.

APC has complained that in the presidential contest it had to face the combined onslaught of the PDP, INEC and Akwa Ibom State Command of the Nigeria Police. It said the two institutions of state, namely, the Nigeria Police and INEC were taken over by the state government and used to deliver the elections to the PDP contrary to the wishes of the people.

They party has consequently called for the redeployment of the heads of the Police and INEC in the state. It argued that their continued stay in their positions would undermine the integrity of the governorship and state house of assembly polls on April 11.

April 6, 2015
Easter celebration: Shoppers defy election fever

Despite the political tension that enveloped Lagos State before and after the presidential election that kept people out of the streets, shoppers trooped out to the Ikeja Mall for Easter shopping, reports Tonia ‘DIYAN.

Shopping malls seem to be insulated from the elections heat that has affected many businesses.

Lagos malls are preparing people for Easter despite the election fever.

The malls continue to thrive daily and it is getting huge patronage from residents living in the areas where it is situated across the state.

Alongside the usual get-to-together, merry-making, and social networking, most people find shopping malls interesting places to visit and ease up the political tension in the air. A cross-section of tenants, shoppers and other business owners at the Ikeja City Mall told The Nation that there has been an upsurge of social and economic activities in and around the malls.

These days, because of the Easter celebration shopping malls seem to be a significant part of the lives of many people. On the outside of the Mall, cars are parked on the vast parking lots. It’s very noisy with different kinds of music and promotional jingles going on in each of the shops. At the top of the building, the volume of sound changes, people chatter while kids scream, most of them are heading to the Cinemas upstairs using either the elevator or the escalator. The pitter patter of feet on the tile floor echo through the mall. Aroma from the mixed at restaurants positioned strategically inside the mall; decorations to remind people of the season and people walking, talking, and laughing everywhere are common sight at the mall.

Most families with kids went to the kids clothing stores like Kidz Country and Play Zone, with nice piece of music renting the air immediately their doors open. Cashiers at the various store greets people as they walk in; there are bright colours and sales tags everywhere. Inside the clothing stores, racks are organised by stylish and high quality clothes and are arranged by designs and colours. While parents do the shopping, kids mess the malls too as they play around.

Adults are seen using the mall for their dating place, couples walked hand in hand. The mall lounge became a hangout for teenagers with most of them watching movie with their dates. Some of them walk around a large enclosed space to exercise. At the beauty salon section were teenagers and middle age women doing their manicure and pedicure, some others are busy with their hair styled. On the whole, people were seen enjoying, relaxing, exercising and having fun at the mall.

Common sight at both the inside and around the shopping malls were cab operators, otherwise known as taxi drivers. They positioned themselves strategically hunting for passengers, particularly those who came without their personal cars. As shoppers strolled in and out of the mall, they beckoned to them for patronage echoing words like ‘very cheap, affordable taxi for you’ or ‘AC taxi for you, I will take you wherever you are going’. These taxi drivers are both male and female. They usually arrive the mall at 10am and will not leave until late hours like 12am. This is because they would like to attend to those patronising the bar and hangout sections of the mall where young people are allowed to remain till the next morning.

A female cab driver at Ikeja City Mall, Mrs. Ngozi Abu, a graduate with first class honours from Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Edo State, joined her male colleagues at the mall two years ago when she saw how lucrative the business is.

She told The Nation Shopping that she closes earlier than the men because she has to attend to her 6-month old baby. “I am doing this taxi business here because I couldn’t get a job after my University degree. I have interest in this trade, particularly in an environment like this where there is no discrimination and segregation,” she said.

She said the job comes with challenges such as getting regular passes from men, who are interested in going out with her. “Some men asked me to go out with them. I tell them that as a married woman I can’t do such a thing, I have come across many, who will still tell me they don’t mind. It is a major challenge in this trade, but apart from that I am fulfilled doing what I am doing,” she said

Similarly, another taxi driver, Mr Deji Awolu, a graduate of Yaba College of Technology said he had worked as a Manager with PC corner, a restaurant at The Palms Mall in Lekki- Lagos, before retiring to join the taxi business at Ikeja City Mall.

Awolu said he bought his taxi with the money he got from his pension. For him, the mall is closer to his home and this enables him to return home without a hitch after a day’s job. According to him, he takes home about N5, 000 daily, after buying fuel and paying his daily dues to the malls management, which charges N22, 000 monthly and N50, 000 registration fees from cab operator, who stay inside the mall to canvass for passengers. “The cab business here is a lucrative one. It is a good location for my kind of business. Though tedious because it has to do with driving, sometimes long distance. To economise fuel, I do not put on the Air conditioner except on demand and that will attract extra charges of N1000 per trip.”

He added: “Life as a cab man at the mall is profitable and I do not have regrets whatsoever it is my car and I am enjoying using it to work at this kind of location where I am sure to take something home for my family every day. I cannot afford to stay inside because of the charges involved. But my colleagues who are inside are making more money than we are making.”

The gate of the mall has not only been taken over by Taxi drivers, but by recharge card and bottle water sellers. Mrs. Rita Okafor is a recharge card seller, who said she sits at the gate to sell cards to people as they go in and out of the mall, said: “Patronage here is higher than staying in my area to sell. Sales move here faster and sometimes I get tips from some people who will ask me to keep the change. I face the challenge of attending to many customers at the same time, but, I am happy about that.”

Mr. David Uche is a security man at the mall. For him, the turn up for Easter is just as massive as it has ever been regardless of the elections season that is posing fear in the minds of Nigerians. “The crowd here this season is normal and it is always like this during festivity. I am trained to manage the crowd here and that is why I am employed. I and my colleagues know what to do when we have challenges,” he said.

He said he joined the mall seven months ago and has been coping with the challenge of standing for hours. “It is a shift job, but sometimes it can be challenging when I have to stand all morning till another colleague comes to relief me in the evening,” he added.

Tenants at the mall are had mix feelings. Some said they are making sales others said they are not making as much as they should. There were others, who said the mall is known to always push sales with promotions and freebies’ they make available to shopper at speculated times.

At the Accessories2die4 store where ladies accessories and costumes for occasions are sold, the sales representative who gave her name as Cynthia told The Nation Shopping that business is thriving as usual and it is not distrusted by election. “Business is hitch free, elections or no elections, but the grocery stores stocking food items tend to have more customers than we do. Some events were put on hold last Saturday and those are the kind of people that patronise us. However, that has not hindered sales for us because of our locations, we are situated in all the malls in Lagos and we are happy that we have been making sales and for this Easter, the best is yet to come for us,” she said

To regular shoppers to the mall, prices of items this Easter is fair. A shopper, Mr Ola Parr, who owns an advertising agency called Midea Mix, said items he bought from clothing store inside the mall is N5, 000 cheaper than its usual price. “Prices of items here are fair and encouraging. I bought three shirts for N20, 000. Before now each of the shirts was N10, 000. Promotional offers during festivities are real, let people take advantage of offers as they come,” he said.

Mrs. Olivia Benson, who was at the mall to window shop said she was not a regular shopper at the mall as she was just returning from a journey and needed a place to sightsee and wait for her hubby who would pick her home. “I went round some of the shops and noticed ridiculous price slashes; I will visit the mall on Easter Sunday to make my picks. There is also a promo box outside the mall to encourage people to shop and win prize, this is very encouraging, “she said.

Operators say Easter has begun at the mall. Mr Eniola Ositelu, its Marketing Manager, said: “Aside the election and post election days, foot traffic at the mall has been normal as expected. Business activities seem very fine here. Foot traffic hasn’t reduced, it has stayed the same.”

He added that the mall is safe. “Security isn’t taken lightly in Ikeja City Mall. The management has and will always put in place adequate security measures to ensure the centre is safe. The mall and its stores always have something special for shoppers this season,” he said.

April 3, 2015
Election drama in Rivers

Last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections in River State were marred by irregularities, according to eyewitnesses. Correspondent BISI OLANIYI, who monitored the elections in Port Harcourt, the state capital catalogued some of the malpractices that marred the exercise.

Though the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, had assured Nigerians that the general elections throughout the country would be free, fair, transparent, credible and peaceful, the reverse was the case in Rivers State.

It became apparent that the presidential and the National Assembly elections would be rigged in Rivers State in the evening of February 27, when it was confirmed that the original result sheets had been released to the leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

With the original result sheets with PDP leaders, colour photocopies were released by INEC to the Electoral Officers, who in-turn gave them to the Supervisory Presiding Officers (SPOs), for onward distribution to the Presiding Officers throughout the 23 local government areas.

In a few places where elections took place in the state, the fake result sheets were used to deceive the electorate, who queued endlessly in the scorching sun, while the presiding officers mostly displayed ignorance by not removing the protective film on the lens of the smart card readers, which caused delay, before the supervising presiding officers came to their rescue.

The Rivers governorship candidate of the PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike, a former Minister of State for Education, was so sure of “victory” at the polls, not through the ballots, but through massive rigging and writing of results in the homes of the leaders of his party.

Wike was also supported in the senseless rigging by the Rivers Deputy Governor, Tele Ikuru, who last week, defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the PDP, and other leaders of the party.

The wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dame Patience, an indigene of Okrika in Rivers State, after voting with her husband in his Otuoke hometown, Bayelsa State, relocated to her palatial mansion in the old Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Port Harcourt, to coordinate the rigging.

The First Lady (Dame Jonathan) and Wike, who are of the PDP, were giving instructions to the police and INEC officials to ensure “landslide victory” for President Jonathan. The police chiefs and INEC officials were helpless, considering the threats of losing their jobs and huge cash released to them.

It was alleged that each of the Electoral Officers (EOs) in the 23 local governments were given N15 million to compromise the election and ensure “victory” for candidates of the PDP. Some of the EOs confronted neither confirmed nor denied the allegation.

It was when Governor Rotimi Amaechi, who is also the Director-General of Buhari/Osinbajo Campaign Organisation, got to his polling unit in Ubima, his hometown in Ikwerre Local Government Area for accreditation that the charade was exposed. Governor Amaechi insisted on seeing the result sheet, but the presiding officer could not produce it, he refused to be accredited.

The governor returned home and gave the INEC ad hoc staff little time, presumably for the officials to bring the result sheet. But, the result sheet was still not available when he returned to the unit before the end of accreditation at 1 p.m.

The Rivers Commissioner for Information and Communications, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, said reports from other parts of the state showed that the problem of absence of result sheets was widespread.

Similarly, the Rivers governorship candidate of the APC, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, equally refused to vote in his coastal Opobo hometown for the same reason: the absence of result sheets.

While responding to allegations of the hijack of result sheets later, Wike urged Rivers people to ignore Amaechi and other APC leaders, insisting that the elections took place and that it was free and fair. He wondered why his former boss (Amaechi) would get to his polling unit and be asking for result sheet, instead of getting himself accredited in the interim before the arrival of the result sheet.

Last Saturday’s elections in the state were marred by violence, killing of scores of defenceless voters, massive rigging, snatching of ballot boxes, intimidation of voters and many irregularities. The INEC officials and policemen connived with PDP leaders in the rape of democracy.

For instance, eyewitnesses said policemen and PDP thugs who were recruited as INEC ad hoc staff were openly thumb-printing ballot papers at the Divisional Police headquarters in Kpor-Ogoni, Gokana Local Government headquarters. The representative of Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, Magnus Abe, who is seeking re-election, and the Caretaker Chairman of Gokana Local Government Council, Kadilo Kabari, who were at the police station to lodge complaints about the irregularities, were shocked to see policemen and PDP thugs thumb-printing ballot papers.

Abe and Kabari were attacked by the PDP thugs, with the Gokana council boss given the beating of his life, thereby sustaining injuries and later made to sit on bare floor for so long, before he was allowed to leave and landed in the hospital. His nasty experience was one of the numerous cases in Rivers State.

An elderly voter, who is a devout Christian, in the old Port Harcourt Township, popularly called Town, had an unpleasant experience that day. Just because he decided to vote for all the candidates of the APC, the peeping PDP thugs dragged him away and gave him the beating of his life. They only left him when he collapsed and he almost died. The thugs had seen that he placed his thumbprint beside the APC logo.

At another polling unit in Rumuigbo-Port Harcourt, near the Psychiatric Hospital, the PDP thugs were reported to have taken over the voting centres. Eyewitnesses said policemen on election duty were helpless. A decent and well-educated man came to the polling unit to vote for all APC candidates, but the thugs collected his ballot papers and tore them to pieces. They had also observed that he voted for the APC. The gentleman simply walked away.

An election observer from the Transitional Monitoring Group (TMG), Ibrahim Zikrullah, said: “We have Rivers State, where the election did not meet minimal standards of any recognised election. The state security took over the role of INEC. They were beating up people, smashing ballots and falsifying results.

“The problems with the card readers did not help matters, because in some places they could not verify the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). And in our view, the manual verification compromised the purpose of the card reader.”

To show their displeasure over the breaches observed during the election, thousands of APC members took to the streets in Port Harcourt. They took off from the Government House and later got to the headquarters of INEC on the Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu Expressway, near the corporate headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

The protesters called for fresh elections in Rivers and the removal of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dame Gesila Khan, for taking sides with the leaders of the PDP. Khan, an indigene of Bayelsa State, as President Goodluck Jonathan, was described as an associate of the President.

The REC was also accused of releasing the original result sheets to Wike and other leaders of the party, with colour photocopies given to the electoral officers in 23 local governments across the state, which they used to write fake results, while Wike later submitted to INEC for collation, the “manufactured” results on original result sheets.

Khan, however, said: “It is a lie and cheap blackmail. It is not possible to hand over original result sheets to politicians, especially with the security numbers on them. They should concentrate on campaigning and allow me to do my job.”

Among the APC’s protesters were: Dr. Peterside; his running mate, Okorie Asita; Sen. Abe; Chief Tony Okocha; Rivers commissioners; federal and state lawmakers, among other eminent personalities. The determined protesters ignored the heavy security on Aba Road, especially between Waterlines Bus Stop and GRA Junction, thereby moving to the gate of the INEC headquarters.

The protesters, who were armed with placards with various inscriptions, were chanting: “We no go gree.” Some of the placards read: “Change Rivers REC of INEC now, Prof. Jega”, “Electoral officers in Rivers State compromising with PDP”, “INEC in Rivers State is an arm of PDP”, “PDP members accredited as INEC ad hoc staff” and “Rivers INEC, where are our votes?”

Peterside and some leaders of the APC, who insisted on entering the INEC headquarters to meet with the REC and formally register their protest, were barred by fully-armed riot policemen. The protesters then decided to sit on the ever-busy Port Harcourt-Aba-Enugu Expressway, in front of INEC’s gate, for about two hours.

The Rivers APC’s governorship candidate said: “What you are seeing here (at INEC headquarters in Port Harcourt) are registered voters, who are supporters of the APC. They are here to protect the fact that yesterday (on Saturday), they were not allowed to exercise their franchise. They got to their various polling units, only to discover that there were no result sheets and without the result sheets, the election cannot be conducted in compliance with the Electoral Law.

“In substance, there were no elections anywhere in Rivers State, at least in 20 local government areas. Apart from the fact that there were no result sheets, the few places where accreditation was done, results were not announced at the polling booths, in accordance with the law. Results were not collated at the various LGAs. We later heard that results are being collated at various homes around the city of Port Harcourt and the suburbs.

“So, we are here to register our protest. There were no elections in Rivers State and violence was visited on our people. Over ten persons died in various locations in Rivers State. Over 55 of our members were arrested by the police and the military. We are calling for elections and not cancellation, because there was no election. All we asking for is that please, can we vote? There are two different things; we are saying there were no elections at all and not that elections were not held.

“We have been here for two hours and they said the REC is not available. Somebody who identified himself as the Administrative Secretary of INEC in Rivers State received our petition, but we are insisting that we must see the REC, because she played a key role in subverting the will of Rivers people.”

Abe, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), who is seeking re-election to represent Rivers Southeast Senatorial District, also stated that he was manhandled in his Bera-Ogoni hometown in Gokana LGA of the state, during Saturday’s election and did not vote, insisting that nobody voted in his senatorial district.

April 2, 2015