There are heightened security and increased political tension in Edo as voters file out tomorrow, Saturday, to vote in the gubernatorial election that will produce the successor of Governor Godwin Obaseki.READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Already, allegations of bias against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security operatives are rife in the state with political parties accusing each other of one allegation or the other, while others issue threat to counter alleged planned rigging of the election.
Following the tensed situation in the state, residents, who spoke to Daily Independent, on Thursday, said they fear crisis may mar the election, and called on the security agencies to be proactive.
Observations raised by civil society organisations (CSOs) and other groups in tomorrow’s governorship election in Edo State also suggest that there could be voter apathy if the issues identified are not urgently addressed.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had on account of the alleged actions of the police and the refusal of INEC to change the Edo State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), who is said to be related to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, refused to sign the peace accord in protest to what it called the use of federal might by the All Progressives Congress (APC) to steal Edo peoples mandate on Saturday.
Some CSOs have also expressed concern that there could be voter apathy if the police do not stop creating an environment of violence through their action thereby scaring away voters on Saturday.
Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had expressed concern that this election will not be free and fair, judging by the arrest of their leaders by the police, which has necessitated the ruling party in the state, a few days ago to ask its members and supporters to equip themselves with all necessary self-defence mechanism to protect their votes on Saturday. This was even after the state chairman of the party, Anthony Aziegbemi, had accused the Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, of being partisan.
Mrs. Ene Obi, former Country Director, ActionAid Nigeria, in a chat with Daily Independent expressed concern over the action of some major stakeholders in the Saturday election, stressing that their actions could lead to voter apathy.
She said, “The report that we have gotten from the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, of which I’m a steering committee member, is that there’s a lot of violence, a lot of arrests that are going on and the civil society is worried.
“The police seem to be arresting members of a particular political party. We can’t get it, because we should be moving from one election to the other with improvement. Late at night some members of a particular party were being arrested.
“The report that we’re getting from the field is that they are arresting members of the PDP. They’re going to different zones and are arresting them. Why are you stressing people? People have a right to freedom, they have a right to vote. What are your reasons? Doing that before an election is it not to generate violence?
“The environment already is unsettling. We look forward to a peaceful election. There were times that before the election, we had discussions with the police, security agencies, they are always prepared. They know the hot spots. When we went to Osun it was like that. Everybody thought Osun was going to be red but it was peaceful. When they say a peaceful election, it means the election will hold, people will queue and they will count the votes in front of the people and everything will tarry. But when you want to start inciting the population in the environment, it is terrible.”
Continuing, she said, “I saw the video of a man in one of the communities yesterday, he was resisting arrest, a lot of people came out and they knew they could be in danger, they left him. It’ll come to a point where Nigerians will defend themselves. If you’re going to defend somebody who is holding a gun it means somebody is going to die. Why are politicians using fellow citizens against fellow citizens? It’s very disheartening. They’re unpatriotic. We’ll go into the election and we’ll be reporting what we see during the election but we hope for a peaceful election.”
On the issue of voter apathy, she said, “In an environment where you have a lot of threats, there’ll be voter apathy because people will tell you they don’t want to lose their lives and then the trust in the system is also an issue because people will tell you that even their votes may not count.
“Just like the kind of terrible things that they do with election results. You saw results with so many cancellations and rewriting and all of that. In an environment where you cannot compile the result sheets.
“Now we’re confronted with an electronic system. We need to move to electronic voting with time where you just punch and it goes to the centre. We need to improve our electronic system which INEC against the Electoral Act.
“They used their guideline which said that INEC has the power to upload or use any other means that they want. I think it is Section 18 of their guideline. Many of us struggled to get the Electoral Act signed. We went to the field, I think it was the eleventh time that the president signed it. Now the electoral body needs that Act to shine.
“Unfortunately, you gave them the Act and they used their guideline. Many of us heard the result wasn’t going to be uploaded. We confronted INEC. They said no, they would upload in good time and we believed in them and they did the betrayal.”
On his part, Femi Lawson, Director, Centre for Public Acceptability, told Daily Independent that the most important thing is that INEC has a duty to be impartial in the process and the officials shouldn’t be seen to be bias.
He added, “Secondly, INEC cannot deliver a free and fair election without the cooperation of other people, which include the security agencies, even the politicians themselves and of course the media and other stakeholders.
“So, it’s expected that stakeholders, particularly the security agencies, should support the efforts of INEC in ensuring that they’re not seen to be partial and not seen to be used by one political party against the other.
“They have a duty to be impartial, they have a duty to ensure that the people are allowed to participate without any form of intimidation to choose the candidates of their choice in the Saturday election. Otherwise, it cannot be said to be a credible election if it is conducted under an atmosphere that is chaotic, that doesn’t allow the people to make their choices freely.”
On what the role of the president should be, he said, “The president has a duty to ensure a peaceful election in Edo. I do hope he should be speaking to people of Edo State ahead of the election even though his party is contesting but he has an obligation to ensure that actors within the process allow peace. It is also very unfortunate that the do-or-die statement came from Governor Obaseki irrespective of the provocation.
“As the chief security officer of Edo State he has a duty to preach peace even in the face of provocation. Describing the process as a ‘do-or-die affair’ sends a wrong signal but we only hope that the election will not be a ‘do-or-die affair’ and the people will be allowed to choose their governor come Saturday.”
On the tension already in the state, he said, “I agree there’s tension but it was like that in 2020. We were there in Edo. There is always tension but the people of Edo acted maturely in 2020 to the extent that there was no reported case of violence despite the threats preceding the election. So we hope that this time also the election will be peaceful. The people have the capacity to defend their votes,” Lawson added.
Jonathan Asks INEC, Security Personnel To Maintain Neutrality
Meanwhile, ahead of the Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State, former President Goodluck Jonathan has sued for peace while charging state institutions involved in managing the process to create a level-playing field to ensure free and fair polling.
Jonathan made this known in a statement on Thursday signed by Ikechukwu Eze, his media adviser, in which he urged political actors and stakeholders to work towards deepening the nation’s democracy by prioritising the peace and security of Edo State.
He emphasised that the Edo election “places a moral burden on state agencies especially the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rise to their constitutional responsibilities as independent arbiters in our democratic process.”
For democracy to endure, the former president noted that “elections must be devoid of all forms of manipulation and state institutions have the obligation to guarantee peaceful, credible and transparent elections.”
The former president further charged the election management body to live up to expectations as an unbiased umpire and inspire confidence in all actors through a transparent voting process.
He said: “There’s no doubt that loss of confidence in an election encourages political disputes, social unrests, voter apathy, increased polarisation and other far-reaching consequences that could undermine development and democratic consolidation.”
He added, “As citizens of voting age in Edo State go to the polls for the governorship election on Saturday, September 21, 2024, I call on all political actors and stakeholders to work towards deepening the nation’s democracy by prioritising peace and security of the state.
“Politicians must pursue their interests within the confines of the law and refrain from activities that could undermine the peace and stability of the state. It is encouraging that civil rule has endured in the Fourth Republic for 25 years but we should remind our people that democracy loses its value when citizens cannot exercise their political choices in a free and fair atmosphere.
“In the interest of peace and the integrity of our electoral process, I urge the electoral management body and security agencies to be professional and neutral in discharging their responsibilities. The Edo election scheduled for this weekend places a moral burden on state agencies especially the police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rise to their constitutional responsibilities as independent arbiters in our democratic process.
“Security agencies must conduct themselves in optimal neutrality and desist from actions that could alter the setting for a level-playing field and compromise the credibility of the electoral process.”
Yiaga Africa Identifies Eight LGAs As Hot Spots For Violence
Yiaga Africa, a citizen-led movement under the Watching The Vote (WTV) Working Group has expressed concern and worries that politicians could tactically employ violence and intimidation to suppress voters in specific polling units and local government areas in Saturday’s election in Edo State.
The election monitoring group also entertained fears that armed groups and political thugs may disrupt INEC’s deployment of election material or elections in some polling units to influence the outcome of the elections.
Revealing this at a pre-election press conference in Benin on Thursday, Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, Chair of the 2024 Edo Election Mission, Yiaga Africa, said her group notes the tense and volatile political climate for the Edo election as a result of potential election manipulation through violence.
According to her, the campaign period was signposted with strong arm tactics and violence following the activities of cult groups and political thugs which intensified amid the proliferation of small and light arms.
While calling on INEC to demonstrate its capacity to conduct a transparent, credible, and efficient election by managing logistics effectively to enable early commencement of voting across all polling units, Yiaga Africa said, it is concerned that politicians will tactically employ violence and intimidation to suppress voters in specific polling units and LGAs.
“We have identified eight LGAs as hots pots for violence and they include: Ikpoba/ Okha, Oredo, Egor, Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Esan South East, Etsako West and Etsako East and the volatile security environment in these LGAs necessitates a strategic and neutral deployment of security forces.”
Speaking on voter inducement and potential vote buying on election day, Yiaga Africa observed multiple instances of voter inducement during the pre-election campaign period in Edo State.READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
