Civil society group, the Independent Service Delivery
Monitoring Group (Centre for Transparency Advocacy),
which deployed over 100 observers to the Edo
governorship election has commended the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) Over the peaceful
and transparent conduct of the election.
The group in a statement signed by the Director
Communication and Mobilization/ Head of Observer Team, Faith Nwadishi also affirmed that the deployment of men and materials by INEC, as well as security agents to polling units was done on schedule.
It said despite isolated violence in some areas, the
election was peaceful. It also hailed the turnout of voters,
describing it as impressive.
She said, “We also observed that accreditation and voting
started as early as 8: 15 am in most polling units across
the state. For instance, voting commenced in Unit 45 after
accreditation in Ogiomo Secondary school, Ward 6 Ikboba-
Okha as early as 8:22 am. Voter turnout was impressive
and people patiently waited to cast their votes.
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“Some isolated violence were reported at Ujemen ward 5
units 8 as a result of shooting by NSCDC personnel as they
were alleged to be harassing voters and that led voters to
Run for safety. The Royal father of Uromi in Esan
North East, HRH Anslem Edoenojie 11 was equally,
reported to have been assaulted by a thug.
“Significantly, at this point, we commend INEC and its
leadership for the forthrightness in conducting a peaceful,
transparent and largely free and fair elections in Edo state.”
She said the observers however noticed that Vote buying
by all the political parties was dominant, that there was no coordination and synergy between the security agencies, that the Police did not interfere even when there were seeming violence .
Other observations include that placement of the cubicles
compromised the secret ballot principle, Election was
generally peaceful, Collation was slow at ward level, Most
of the collation centres had no electricity and collation officers are challenged by poor visibility and that the result
sheets are of poor standard and therefore, some of the
figures were not readable.
She said, “transportation system for the movement of Youth corps members was not tidy led to most of the Corpers walking long distances and arriving late to duty posts, Turnout was impressive, INEC and its officials Discharged their duties creditably, Security agents were courteous, There were a good number of unused ballot papers and there was no display of declared results at some polling units.” As a way forward, “The independence of INEC must remain
sacrosanct as INEC is implored to remain resolute in the
defence of our nascent democracy.
“There must be joint force and proper coordination of
security agencies and their welfare, Especially , the
Inspector General of Police, the Director General DSS and
NSCDC must sit up and reappraise their election duty
strategies. They must be proactive in resolving inter
agency issues and work collaboratively.
“Placement of cubicles should be in such a way that voting
principles of privacy will not be compromised.
“We recommend further commitment, joint force .and
consultations between security agencies and statutory
institutions to protect our democracy and an improvement
in Ondo state.”
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