Edo Guber Election: Civil Society Accuses Security Forces Of Involvement In Electoral Irregularities!

By Alltimepost.com

Nine days, following the controversial governorship election in Edo State, Edo Civil Society Organizations have accused the Nigeria Police Forces and the Department of State security (DSS) of complicity in the electoral irregularities that greeted the poll.

Edo Governorship election was held on September 28, 2016, with Godwin Obaseki, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) declared as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against his opponent, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

At a press briefing in Benin City, Edo State capital on Saturday, Edo Civil Society organizations, first, of all, praised police officers, DSS and officers of the Civil Defense Corps for being citizen-friendly in the discharge of their duties, but accused them of failing to apprehend certain persons that were involved in the massive financial inducement of voters across the state.

They alleged that in some cases, officers were involved in the scheme which they described as “a great disappointment to our country.”

The organizations alleged high level of compromise by security agencies, accusing some of their members of being seen to be directing voters to vote a particular party and aided in the financial inducement.

“Most disappointing was the DSS in full uniform partaking in such act,” they bemoaned.

The organizations noted that political parties were involved in heavy financial inducement of voters across the state especially “the two major political parties; it was a very open activity that took place in the glare presence of security personnel who looked the other way.”

According to the organizations, money was massively used to buy voters, an amount that ranged between N500 and N2000 and that the ballots were no longer secret “as a voter may have to show his thumb printed ballot paper and be ascertained by a party agent before he is paid.”

Below is full text of the press briefing, addressed by Comrade Omobude Agho
Coordinator General, Edo Civil Society Organizations:

PRESS CONFERENCE HELD ON THE 8TH OF OCTOBER, 2016 AT THE MASSES’ HOUSE BY EDO CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS.

2016 EDO STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION
My fellow comrades and the good people of Edo state, members of the press, I welcome you all to this press briefing to appraise the recently concluded governorship election in our great state. This has become very important being a critical stakeholder in the society.

First, I want to appreciate God for making it possible for us to have an election where no life was lost throughout the entire state, it is remarkable and worthy of note.

Edo Civil Society Organizations, the umbrella body of civil society groups in Edo state, having been part of the observation of the 2016 Edo State Governorship election held on the 28th day of September, 2016 across the state working with various accredited local and international observers have deem it necessary to brief the people of the state her observations.

The following were our observations:

INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is the statutory body to conduct any governorship election in any constituent unit of the federation. On the day of election, INEC was able to deploy both personnel and materials at up to 80% to most polling units as early as 8:00am which was a far departure from what obtains before, polls were open for both accreditation and instant voting which was another novel innovation by INEC. This new idea by INEC was a welcome one and should be sustained.

It was observed that in many polling units, there was tremendous improvement from PVC card readers and INEC staff compared to previous elections. We received reports of disruption of collation process in some units across the state and units occasioned by hoodlums.

SECURITY AGENCIES
Before the new date was finally fixed, the security agencies, particularly the DSS and the Nigeria Police had advised the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the governorship election in a press briefing held in Abuja on the 7th of September, 2016 due to a possible terrorist threat. The police officers, The DSS and officers of the Civil Defense Corps were citizen friendly in the discharge of their duties howbeit they failed to apprehend certain persons that were involved the massive financial inducement of voters across the state. In some cases, officers were involved in the scheme which was a great disappointment to our country. There was high level of compromise by security agencies, more so that some were seen directing voters to vote a particular party and aided in the financial inducement. Most disappointing was the DSS in full uniform partaking in such act.

POLITICAL PARTIES
It was observed that political parties were involved in heavy financial inducement of voters across the state especially the two major political parties; it was a very open activity that took place in the glare presence of security personnel who looked the other way. Money was massively used to buy voters, an amount that ranges between N500 to N2000. The ballots were no longer secret as a voter may have to show his thumb printed ballot paper and be ascertained by a party agent before he is paid.

THE ELECTORATES
The electorates came out very early to exercise their franchise across the state, there was seemly voters apathy at the earlier time probably due to the security threat notice released earlier but as time went by, the numbers increased.

The electorate’s decisions were grossly influenced by the financial inducement extended by the political parties. It is a known fact that the ruling class have made the people to be poor in order to buy their conscience during election period. Our people should know that selling of votes amount to the sale of the future and the deprivation of their constitutional power.

RECOMMENDATION
The election has come and gone, a winner has been announced by INEC. We advise the aggrieved party who still have the windows of the judiciary to take advantage of it. While we commend INEC thus far, we are requesting that they improve in subsequent elections.

We vehemently condemn the role our security agencies played in the election that have helped political parties to sink further our already growing democracy to 10 years backward.
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God Bless Edo State
God Bless Nigeria
God Bless Edo Civil Society Organizations

 Signed
Comrade Omobude Agho
Coordinator General
Edo Civil Society Organizations