Kogi election: Polls largely free, fair, credible, says observer groups
- The Kogi governorship election continues to dominate national discourse days after the end of the exercise
- Some observer groups had called for the cancellation of the election, saying it falls below acceptable electoral standards
- Some civil society groups in the state, however, said the election result was acceptable
A coalition of over 52 civil society groups have described the Kogi governorship election as largely free, fair and credible.
The groups said the result of the election is acceptable inspite of the wide-spread violence that rocked the state during the exercise.
Comrade Peter Nwokolo of Citizens' Right and Leadership Awareness Initiative (CRLAI), who addressed journalists in Lokoja on Tuesday, November 19 on behalf of the leaders of the groups, said calls for the cancellation of the polls were not in order.
“The observed anomalies reported during the elections, including the incidents of thuggery and associated violence, were comparatively too few and ineffective to justify the calls from some quarters for total cancellation of the entire elections.
“The INEC is advised to ignore such calls as misguided,” he said.
The coalition commended INEC for the conduct of the election, stating that the electoral commission had done a good job.
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It said INEC had by identifying and evaluating the overall impact of the incidents on the electoral outcomes, “taken remedial decisions including cancellation of votes or scheduling of outright reruns in some constituencies.”
“After careful analysis of the nature of incidents, their possible impact on the results of the elections and review of INEC decisions on each, this coalition declares herself satisfied with INEC's proposed consequential actions.
“The cancelled polls and the scheduled reruns meet the justice of the situation.
“Coalition is grateful for the opportunity to be involved as observers and monitors and thus contribute in this way to the process of deepening democratic practices and values in Nigeria,” Nwokolo said.
He, however, noted that transactional malpractices such as vote-buying and voluntary breach of secrecy in voting between voters and agents of political parties were also observed.
According to him, voters and political parties voluntarily exchanged money for votes with the voter contriving to reveal his thumb-printed ballot in order to receive payment.
“Nevertheless, coalition notes that violence has remained a sad reality of elections in Nigeria for decades and the relevant authorities must do more to stamp it out,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Adamu on Tuesday, November 19 disclosed that the uniformed men who disrupted electoral processes in Bayelsa and Kogi states were fake policemen.
The IGP who stated this while briefing journalists in the presidential villa after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, revealed that some politicians had sewn police uniforms for their supporters before the elections to disrupt the process.
Kogi election: Alarm raised over cancellations of vote | Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
