•Group: INEC, security agencies fail Bayelsans
THE Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) says the Bayelsa State governorship election, which was concluded at the weekend, fell below the global standards for credible elections.
Its chairman, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, who presented the final statement on the election to reporters yesterday in Abuja, noted that it witnessed widespread cases of ballot box snatching, damage of ballots and stealing of ballot papers.
He claimed that the infractions hindered the counting and announcement of results in many polling units in Southern Ijaw.
TMG expressed disappointment at the inability of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies to conduct free and fair governorship election in the state, insisting that the election fell below the international standard.
The December 5 election and the subsequent January 9 supplementary election in the state led to Governor Seriake Dickson’s re-election.
Zikirullahi said the whole processes of the election were characterised by violence, as the two major political parties – the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – struggled to outsmart each other.
He added that the electoral umpire and the security agencies failed the people of Bayelsa and called for a comprehensive audit of security operatives deployed for the poll.
The report revealed that “a total of 135 critical incident reports were received from a combined 55 mobile and stationary observers deployed by the TMG quick count in Bayelsa state”.
“These incidents are considered serious as they undermined the integrity of the overall process,” Zikirullahi said.
He maintained that the high-level of insecurity, harassment and intimidation of INEC officials, voters and observers, which resulted in serious irregularities throughout the electoral process, called into question the credibility of the poll.
“All of these grave infractions clearly show that the Bayelsa governorship election grossly falls below the global standards for elections as enunciated in international instruments on human rights and credible elections,” he added.
Consequently, the group “calls on INEC to take early steps to assess the unique terrain of every state in order to better anticipate and address logistical challenges, like the late distribution of election materials, which resulted in a delayed start to the election process in Bayelsa”.
Zikirullahi said: “TMG calls on INEC not to relent on its mandate of bringing to book all the electoral offenders in the Bayelsa gubernatorial election. This will serve as deterrent to future offenders.
“TMG calls on INEC to desist from changing election procedures within a few hours to election day to prevent confusion and to ensure that no individual is allowed to vote in future elections unless the card reader has successfully read his or her permanent voters’ card (PVC).”
He called on the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) to audit the performance of the security agencies deployed for the Bayelsa State gubernatorial election, particularly in areas where elections were disrupted by violence.
“TMG calls on the security agencies to be proactive in securing the space for future elections. Security agencies have a particular mandate to ensure the protection of citizens and sensitive materials on election day,” he said.
On political parties, the TMG chairman noted that the undemocratic behaviour of parties and their representatives, particularly the two leading political parties, undermined public confidence in the electoral process, alleging that they acted contrary to the spirit of the Yenagoa Peace Accord.
Zikirullahi said as part of its lawmaking responsibility towards electoral reform, the National Assembly should take steps towards reviewing the nation’s electoral laws to provide for stringent punishment for political actors, who engage in or sponsor political violence.
