A civil society group, Connected Development (CODE), has said security personnel performed below expectation in the governorship and state houses of assembly polls.
CODE Executive Director, Hamzat Lawal, during the organisation’s preliminary statement on the polls yesterday in Abuja claimed that security personnel were responsible for the spate of violence and voter suppression that characterised the election.
Lawal said: “First, let me iterate that we condemn in strong terms, the attack and suppression of voters in a number of polling units. For example, in Ebonyi State, one of our own, an accredited field observer, Uzodimma Lucy Ogodo was brutally attacked for refusing to vote for a particular party.
“This is unacceptable and against the tenets of democracy, which we strive so hard to maintain as a nation. The democratic contract of our country, dictates that we, as citizens, have the exclusive right to determine who our leaders are, and we must protect this right. This is why we are again calling on security agencies to act swiftly and ensure justice is served.
“Also, based on the reports of our field observers, we can say categorically that there are other pockets of violence that have surfaced in numerous polling units across the country.
“For example, in Lagos State, Ojo/Iba LCDA Local Govt Area, Polling unit: Princess Eneni Street, Victory Estate, Polling Unit code: 091, was attacked by party hoodlums.
“In fact, the pregnant wife of our Lagos State Lead was attacked and is currently recuperating. We will not relent until justice is served.
“The police did not live up to expectations with such level of violence. We hope that they will do more. They actually undermined the elections.
“The armed police were not available and did not respond when we escalated the issue of violence. It is an indictment on police and Inspector General of Police who had assured voters of securit.”
Despite the hitches, he commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for timely uploads of results on the IReV.
“Despite all of these faults that we have observed, we cannot say that the Commission has not done well in some areas; for example, we observed that we recorded the early opening of polls in 79 per cent of polling units observed by CODE as opposed to the less than 30 per cent in the February 25 general elections.
“We must commend the functionality of the BVAS in this election. This indicates the Commission’s commitment to embracing this new technology in our electioneering process.
“We must also commend INEC on the uploads of results on the IReV. we have noticed that as of 3:30 pm this afternoon, some results from various polling units have already been uploaded on the IReV portal. We are watching this progress very closely,” he said.
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