……..calls for electronic collation of election results
By Lucky Isibor
The Rally for Peaceful Election, a coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has condemned the coalition of results in the 21 September Edo governorship election, pointing out that the election at the various polling units, counting of ballots and uploading of unit results into the IREV had no issues adding that issues started cropping up at the ward, local government and state collation centres.
The Rally for Peaceful Election stated this Friday, 11 October, while addressing the press on its peace building efforts, before and after the election.
In a press statement signed by the Converner of Rally for Peaceful Election, Dr. Bright Oniovokukor, the Co-Conveners, Dr. Jude Obasanmi and Comrade Annie Umoru, the body noted that the results of the election reflecting the votes cast was a major challenge in the Edo governorship election and deployed the issues that surfaced at the ward, local government and state collation centres, while calling on the Nationl Assembly to ammend the Electoral Act to provide for the compulsory collation of results electronically.
“That coming out to vote has never been the challenge of Nigerians, however, the failure of the vote cast to reflect the final result in a transparent manner remains the challenge. It was observed that at the polling units, there were no concerns raised about uploading of results to IREV but when results started moving from the Ward collation to Local Government Collation and to the state collation centres, issues began to emerge.
“Considering the level of technological advancement in the world, it is highly worrisome and disheartening that our electoral system has not fully embraced technology. If the accreditation and voting that has not given us major concerns over the years have been technologically improved upon using card readers and now BVAS, why do we still have to be punching calculators and manually collating results of a very important exercise such as election upon which the fate of a country or state lies. This is an urgent call on the National Assembly to review the Electoral Act to remove the optional approach to collation of election results and make it mandatory that the results be collated electronically. This would remove the manipulative bottlenecks as well as delays in completing the process”.
While commending Edo people for their peaceful conduct, during and after the election, the Rally for Peaceful Election berated the flauting of the directive of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to redepoy police escorts from politicians as many of them were seen going about with police escorts on election day. They called on INEC to address the issue of manipulation of election results begining from party primaries and vote buying and selling on election day.
“We commend Edo People for their peaceful conduct during the election as they did not allow the tension that was building up to degenerate into something else. This should be sustained as Edo Lives matter. The citizens need to remain law abiding especially in this post-election period and should not be willing tools to mischief makers.
“The issue of manipulation of results that began from when the political parties conducted their primaries should be clearly addressed. The three major political parties had litigation upon litigation after their party primaries and it has become pertinent that ambiguity in the political party guidelines should be removed as well adhering to it. The manipulations began from when certain sections were waived to pave way for some persons who ordinarily were not eligible.
“That the definition of vote buying and what it entails should be clearly defined in the context of our elections. It was observed that while there were so many efforts to apprehend those involved in trading of votes on election day, this apprehension should begin earlier than the election day as concerns have been raised with respect to how delegates are monetarily induced during the primaries. If at the level of primaries, it can be curbed, then it would be reduced if not completely eradicated during election day.
“That the heavy security presence was supposed to assure the citizens of safety & security on election and not for intimidation. Contrary fo the promise of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), some politicians were seen with police escort on election day. When statement of these magnitude is made and not adhere to, it goes a long way to weaken the public trust which is needed most at this time in Nigeria democracy.
“That the complaint of using Ad-hoc staff who did not participate in the training should be looked into to avoid cases where Ad-hoc staff would be at loggerheads in the field would be avoided. We observed that different levels of acrimony among the staff in the field, this can be avoided to a great extent”.
While noting that the election was relatively peaceful, Rally for Peaceful Election deplored the use of fowl language by some political actors during campaigns and called for measures to curb its reoccurrence in future elections. The need for proper training of Adhoc staff by INEC was also stressed.
Rally for Peaceful Election also called on all aggrieved to use the appropriate mechanism to ventilate their grievances and called on the judiciary to be objective in dealing with election cases that may be brought for adjudication.
“That the complaint of using Ad-hoc staff who did not participate in the training should be looked into to avoid cases where Ad-hoc staff would be at loggerheads in the field would be avoided. We observed that different levels of acrimony among the staff in the field, this can be avoided to a great extent.
“As we followed the campaigns and various stakeholders’ meetings that were held, we observed that utterances of some political party chieftains should be carefully analyzed. Some of the outright messages of threat should be checked and where the need arises, sanctions should be placed on erring political parties.
“Following the announcement of the results and the grievances raised by the political parties, the prescribed route to address those grievances should be followed to sustain the peaceful atmosphere the state has enjoyed.
“That the tools we deployed to track incidence of violence did not show any significant finding. We deployed tools to track violence during Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), Collection of PVC, Voter Education, #Edo2024 Incident Tracking, 3473090# etc did not return any significant findings on violence. However, pockets of violence were reported but they did not have significant effect on the election though were expected by the NPF to thoroughly investigate the pre-election crisis and update the public on what actually transpired.
“That the Judiciary being the hope of the common man to be objective in their dealings and handling of the various cases that would be before them. This would further go a long way to win the public trust that we need to move the country forward”.
In his remark, Dr. Jude Obasanmi urged those aggrieved to follow the due process and ensure there’s peace noting that Edo people must be alive to benefit from the government.
“Those who are aggrieved can follow the normal channel, we do not want a single life to be lost. Edo must be alive for us to benefit from as Edo people”.
On the alleged seige laid by some thugs, seemingly to disrupt the inspection of BVAS and other electoral materials used during the election, he said: “The law says that anyone aggrieved has the right to demand for or verify and look at those documents which were used in the conduct of the election. It is not proper to prevent aggrieved persons from accessing the materials”.
The Rally for Peaceful Election was a platform for stakeholders in the CSO community to campaign for a peaceful Edo State governorship election held on 21 September. They focused on issues that surrounded the Edo 2024 Governorship election from the moment the timetable was released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) up to the announcement of results. They made public statements to bring the attention of stakeholders towards ensuring a peaceful election. We flagged off the “I stand for peace #Edolivesmatter” campaign on 19July.
They had series of engagements with stakeholders, sensitization of the public and five (5) episodes of online engagements (four before and one after the election) where issues on security concerns, Collection of Permanent Voters’ Card (PVC), Voter education, Voter Apathy, Role of stakeholders (Political parties, INEC, Security Agencies and the Citizens) were discussed extensively and resolutions escalated to the appropriate quarters for action.