* Says INEC Polling Booths Did Not Offer Sufficient Privacy
To Voters
The Nigerian Bar Association Election Working Group (2019
NBA-EWG) has said that it was observed that all over the nation,
the polling INEC polling booths did not offer sufficient privacy to
voters.
This was contained in the 1st Interim Report of the Nigerian Bar
Association Election Working Group (2019 NBA-EWG) on the 2019
Presidential and National Assembly Elections which held on
Saturday, 23rd February, 2019.
In the report signed by Mazi Afam Osigwe, and made available to
TheNigerialawyer (TNL), the group outlined various issues observed
in the General Election among which are security arrangement, smart
card readers, election violence, etc.
See Statement:
1ST INTERIM REPORT OF THE NIGERIAN BAR
ASSOCIATION ELECTION WORKING GROUP (2019 NBA-EWG) ON THE 2019
PRESIDENTIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS WHICH HELD ON
SATURDAY, 23RD FEBRUARY, 2019.
Preamble
The Presidential and National Assembly Elections were conducted
by the Independent National Electoral Commission (“INEC”) on
Saturday, 23rdFebruary, 2019 in all the thirty-six States of the
Federation as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The
Elections were initially slated for February 16, 2019 but were
postponed at the instance of INEC by one week. The Gubernatorial
and Houses of Assembly elections are now scheduled to hold on
Saturday, 9th March, 2019.
Mandate
On February 12, 2019, the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association, Mr. Paul Usoro, SAN inaugurated the 2019 NBA-EWG with
the core mandate to, amongst others, observe the Presidential,
Gubernatorial, National and State Houses of Assembly Elections,
2019 and ascertain and be able to comment on the extent of the
conformity of the processes and procedures for the conduct of the
elections with the relevant laws, regional and international
standards and best practices.
The work of the 2019 NBA-EWG as stated by the NBA President was
to focus, amongst others, on observing the
following:
- The extent of compliance of all stakeholders with the
governing laws and regulations in the conduct of the
elections; - To what extent the elections are free, fair and
credible and that there is no voter intimidation and/or violence;
and
- That every vote counts and to that extent, there is no
falsification or manipulation of the votes, howsoever, at any stage
of the election process, and that the announced results reflect the
choice of the voters.
Modus operandi
Having been duly accredited by the electoral umpire, INEC, the
2019 NBA-EWG not only mobilized its members but also deployed the
membership of the Association nationwide to observe and or monitor
the elections in all the States of the Federation and the FCT.
To ensure a seamless operation, the 2019 NBA-EWG set up a
Situation Room at the National Secretariat of the Association in
Abuja where it receives real-time reports and live feeds of events
from its members who were deployed on the field for the purpose of
its mandate. Additionally, and in order to achieve promptness,
speed and coordination, the 2019 NBA-EWG procured a toll-free
telephone line where members called in with their reports and,
also, activated various social media platforms where it streams
live reports and events as contributed by members.
Nature of Report
This constitutes the 1st Interim Report of the 2019
NBA-EWG. The Report makes no pretence at completeness but is
submitted only as a precis of the initial observations of its
members in respect of or in relation to the conduct of the national
elections of Saturday, 23rd February, 2019. It is the 2019
NBA-EWG’s legitimate expectation that a comprehensive, composite
and all-encompassing report will be published at the completion
each of the two electoral tranches i.e. (a) the Presidential and
National Assembly Elections; and (b) the Governorships and Houses
of Assembly Elections. Meanwhile, as necessary and required,
additional Interim Reports may be issued by the 2019 NBA-EWG prior
to the publication of the final comprehensive report of the Group
in respect of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections.
Dramatis Personae
A total of Ninety-One (91) registered political parties
participated in the elections, although only Seventy-Three (73) of
these parties fielded candidates for the presidential elections in
which the incumbent President and candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR and a former Vice President
and candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku
Abubakar, GCON, are said to be the leading contenders.
Issues:
In respect of the Presidential and National Assembly Elections
of Saturday, 23rd February, 2019, the 2019 NBA-EWG
reports as follows:
INEC and the challenges of logistics
The NBA-EWG notes that although the elections were originally
scheduled to hold on Saturday, 16th February, 2019, INEC caused
same to be postponed by a week, citing “logistical challenges”. The
NBA-EWG notes with regret, however, that despite the postponement,
the elections recorded some noticeable but avoidable lapses
associated with the same ‘logistical challenges’.
For example, members reported that polls did not commence at the
scheduled time of 8am in most polling units nationwide. This
drawback was, however, more manifest in the States of the
South-South, South-East, South-West and North-Central regions of
the country.
In a number of polling units across the country, election
materials, especially ballot papers, were either over-supplied
(i.e. in excess of the registered voters in the polling unit) or
under-supplied. From reports available to us at this time, this
situation was prevalent in the South-South and South-East
sub-regions, particularly in Edo, Akwa Ibom, Imo and Enugu States
respectively.
The 2019 NBA-EWG notes as well that in isolated cases (Owerri in
Imo State for example), INEC officials conducted the elections
using photocopies of approved ballot papers. In polling units where
voters complained about this unwholesome practice, the INEC
officials rebuffed them and proceeded to conduct the elections in
that manner, nevertheless.
We also observed that many electoral officers could not locate
the Polling Units where they were to conduct elections. In one
example at Dutse Alhaji, Abuja FCT, polling officers who could not
locate their polling unit returned to a wrong polling unit with the
electoral materials. In another example in Abuja the polling
officers actually commenced the conduct of elections in a different
and wrong polling unit.
Many voters also had difficulties locating their polling units
as there were insufficient details on the PVCs and at INEC website
on how to locate one’s polling unit. This was very prevalent in
Abuja.
The splitting of the Polling Units into sub-units based on
alphabetical order without informing the voters or putting in place
some order in executing same, initially caused disenchantment as
voters had lined up randomly or in a single straight line in
accordance with their time of arrival not knowing that such polling
units had been subdivided.
INEC hotlines were almost always unreachable and when reached
there was nobody to address callers’ enquiries and in some
instances the calls terminated on their own.
Smart Card Readers
The major complaints of the voters, as aggregated by members,
revolve around the card reader. The 2019 NBA – EWG reports that the
performance of the card readers, although not generally
unsatisfactory, raised concerns and provided sufficient basis for
anxiety among the voting populace.
Some of the acknowledged complaints about or concerning the card
reader device include but are not limited to: inability to
authenticate fingerprints or biometrics, inaccurate or false
outputs for identified card holders, non-recognition of certain
alphabets associated with some surnames or forenames.
Illustrative locations where these incidents occurred include some
polling units in FCT, Kano and Akwa Ibom States.
The Working Group reports also that in most units and concerning
the malfunctioned card readers, presiding officers commendably
resorted to manual accreditation to enable registered voters to
cast their ballots. However, this was not devoid of the associated
suspicion by the voters of possible abuse of such discretion by the
polling officials.
The NBA-EWG reports also that in some polling units in Abuja,
smart card readers recognized voters’ cards but produced unintended
outputs, particularly in cases where, for example, the facial
features of the Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) holder were
inexplicably different from those displayed on the card reader
device. In such cases, the discretion whether the affected voter
proceeds with the voting process or should be disenfranchised
rested with the presiding officer. It was reported that in most of
such peculiar cases, such discretion was exercised against the
registered voters.
By and large, the preponderance of opinion from the NBA-EWG,
2019 is that the smart card device although it may not have totally
failed the integrity test, created appreciable anxiety among the
voting populace consequent upon the reported cases of malfunction
and/or outright performance failure of the device.
We also observed a nation-wide absence of technical assistance
needed to resolve issues associated card reader malfunction. There
were also issues of non- availability of back-up card readers in
most of the polling units observed.
Electoral Violence
There were several reports and live feeds of electoral violence
from all over the country. Party thugs and hoodlums had a field day
invading voting centers to harass, molest and intimidate voters
and, in some instances, INEC officials. Strangely, in places where
these despicable acts were recorded or registered, security agents
were either complacent or complicit. Rivers, Lagos and Kogi states
were notorious in this regard.
There were also confirmed reports from different parts of
Nigeria where voters were prevented, hindered or inhibited from
performing their civic responsibilities on the suspicion that their
votes had the potential to produce outcomes that were undesirable
to or unintended by the illegal “enforcers” and “gatekeepers”.
Thus, voters were chased away and forced to return to their homes.
Akwa Ibom, Niger, Lagos, Imo, Kogi and Benue States rank high as
examples of places where these unconscionable and loathsome acts of
voter intimidation and suppression took place.
In some places, such as Lagos, Kano and Edo States, amongst
others, voters who wanted to vote for certain candidates were
threatened with violence, suffered violence and/or were prevented
from voting by the earlier referenced illegal “enforcers” and
“gatekeepers”. Cases of supervised or guided voting were also
reported in parts of Kano State.
Additionally, the NBA-EWG situation room was inundated with
widespread reports confirming the manipulation of election
processes by INEC officials aided by party thugs and security
agents. Such reports included incidents where the Electoral
Officers deliberately voided votes cast, refused to allow some
persons to vote, refused to allow voters whose names were on the
voters register to vote by using Incidence Forms where there were
card reader issues, giving out ballot papers with 2015 dates,
refusing to stamp or sign or date ballot papers, refusing to allow
some party agents to inspect and confirm the sensitive materials
brought to polling units, etc.
Secrecy of the voting process
It was observed that all over the nation the INEC polling booths
did not offer sufficient privacy to voters. Party agents and some
other persons had widespread, easy and unrestrained access to
voting areas to either supervise voting by voters or to pry into
how they were voting. Lagos, Kano, Edo, Imo and parts of Rivers
States illustratively recorded these incidents of gross breach of
voter privacy. Neither the electoral officers nor the police
officers around the voting areas made any effort to prevent and/or
stop this unwholesome practice.
Voters’ Turn-Out.
The NBA-EWG reports that despite the late arrival of INEC
officials and voting materials, the turn-out of voters and their
enthusiasm for the elections was largely impressive and
satisfactory.
Voters in many places helped to organise themselves by
writing their names on sheets of paper so as to ensure orderly and
seamless conduct of the accreditation and voting
processes.
In most of the polling units observed, there were significant
turnouts of senior citizens, women and even persons with
disabilities.
Security Arrangements
It was observed that police personnel posted to voting centers
visited by the NBA-EWG members generally arrived on time apart from
some isolated instances where the absence of the police personnel
were observed. There were indeed cases where police personnel were
completely absent or left at some point and before the conclusion
of the election processes at the polling units.
In cases where there were infractions of electoral laws or
threats of violence or actual violence, it was observed that the
police personnel at those polling units stayed aloof and did
nothing to prevent or stem those infractions and/or acts of
violence. It was also observed that in some voting centers the
number of police personnel posted there was not commensurate with
the large number of registered voters in the
centers.
CONCLUSION:
As earlier indicated, this is but the 1st interim
report of the 2019 NBA-EWG which may be followed by other interim
reports, as deemed necessary and required by the NBA-EWG. A
detailed and final Report of the Presidential and National Assembly
Elections will be published by the NBA in the fullness of time,
specifically, after the release of all the Presidential and
National Assembly Elections results which would be preceded by (a)
the complete collation of the results by INEC; and (b) the conduct
of the elections in places where INEC has now cancelled and
rescheduled polls, notably in Rivers, Lagos and Akwa Ibom
States.
SIGNED.
Mazi Afam Osigwe, FCIArb. (UK)
Chairman
2019 NBA-EWG
23rd February, 2019
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