Bayelsa, Kogi guber: CDD alleges that security agencies aided rigging of polls  

Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), aNon-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has alleged that security agencies aided the massive rigging witnessed in the Kogi and Bayelsa states governorship election at the weekend.

Senior Fellow of the agency, Prof Ibrahim Jubrin, who made the allegation while presenting report of the and Kogi election at the Election Analysis Centre in Abuja, insisted that the thugs operated freely, attacking polling stations.

“I want to amplify the call that the president has to intervene at this point to address the question of the very rapid decline of the integrity of Nigerian election.

“The key problem in the elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states is that very clearly security agencies with constitutional responsibility for the rule of law, defence of the citizens and their rights, were clearly complicit in organising the disruption of the elections.

“They directly engage in allowing attacks at polling units for the carting away of electoral materials and for producing an outcome that is not in conformity with the wishes of the voters who would have wanted to make a choice of whom their leaders should be.

“Specifically, we are concerned about the direct contradiction of the massive police deployment numbering 30,000 for both Kogi and Bayelsa state but on ground that massive deployment was not visible. Maybe they took another form because we are in Africa, we did not see them.

“Specifically, we went through a lot of key roads leading out of Lokoja, and there were no checkpoints precisely because police were not there to check. Those who were moving around were armed thugs in Hilux vans, carrying weapon, moving systematically from polling unit to polling units. Nobody checked them and this is a direct indication that there was state complicity in what happened.

“We are calling on the president as chairman of the Police Council and also as a person with the utmost responsibility for the defence of our constitution, to set up a panel to estanlish exactly why state agencies refused to play their constitutional role in this election.

“There is nothing INEC can do if armed thugs with AK47 were allowed to move from polling unit to polling units. Police men and women attached to the polling units had to run when the thugs came because they thought that they are armed and they were not.

“It was therefore a deliberate situation created where it was impossible to organise credible election. I think the situation we are in is one of grave danger to democracy and my concluded point is that we should not forget key moments in our national history -1964 and 1983 elections in which it became clear to the citizens of this country that there was state complicity to ensure that free and fair elections did not happen in this country.

“We are back in that situation and what is under threat is the survival of democracy in this country. People are out for temporary gain, rig in my state and take over governorship power.

“You can rig, but if the citizens of this country feel that that power is not legitimate, it is not based on Nigerian people, what you are doing is making democracy extremely fragile and it becomes difficult to maintain a democratic regime when key state agencies with a responsibility for the rule of law and protection of the rights of citizens are themselves agents for dismantling the rule of law and agents for perpetrating violence against the Nigerian people and above all stealing the mandate of the people,” he noted.

Presenting the main report, CDD Director, Idayat Hassan, expressed disappointment, describing the poll as “gunpoint democracy in Kogi/Bayelsa State.

“On November 16 in Kogi and Bayelsa States the very foundation of our 20 year-old democratic order came under a grievous assault. Enthusiastic citizens, including men, women, youth and People with Disabilities (PWDs) who trooped out to vote for candidates of their choice were left absolutely disappointed.

“Many voters were disenfranchised as a result of constant threats to life and limb throughout the process. Elections which would have enable everyday citizens express their democratic preferences were violently and crudely undermined by an unrelenting band of partisan outlaws.

“At the CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC) in Kogi and Bayelsa from where we received field data and updates on the conduct of the polls, the sheer magnitude of the violent assault on the sanctity of the ballot was shocking beyond description.The outcome of a process that was so criminally subverted should not be allowed to stand.

“At the last count, our observer reports from Kogi State have recorded the deaths of 10 people in various shooting incidents and attacks across the State. CDD EAC accredited non partisan observers, including trained roving journalists, reported over 79 critical incidents in the Kogi State off-cycle governorship and the rerun Senatorial elections. In clear terms, these incidents combined to damage the credibility of the polls. The incidents ranged from hijack of electoral materials by thugs, kidnap of INEC ad hoc staff, vote buying, attacks on observers, intimidation of voters and under-aged voting. Other reported incidents, which call to question the credibility of these polls include widespread stuffing of ballot boxes, ballot snatching and multiple voting. The level of malpractices in these elections was pervasive as reported by our CDD EAC observers on the ground.

“Our observers reveal that violence and disruption of voting constituted 66.21 per cent of the total reported incidents. Vote trading which was also widespread across the state constituted 28.38 per cent of total reported malfeasance while under-aged/multiple voting constituted 5.41 per cent of total incidents reported.

“The intensity of the observed incidents was high in LGAs like Lokoja, Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Okene, Ajaokuta; Dekina and Olamaboro. In terms of senatorial districts, Kogi West topped the chart of incidents with 55 per cent. Kogi East and Kogi Central accounted for 27.0 per cent and 18 per cent of the total reported incidents respectively. This suggests that the incidents particularly violence was widespread but more pronounced in certain locations particularly areas with high number of registered voters.

“There were reports of a group of people thumb printing significant number of ballot papers. In Bayelsa, CDD EAC observers reported over 50 critical incidents which directly impacted the credibility of the election. The incidents are mainly predominant in Yenagoa, Ekeremor and Sagbama LGAs of Bayelsa State. Violence in form of thuggery, ballot box snatching, destruction of voting materials constituted 66.7 per cent of the total reported incidents,” CDD said.