Reported violence not enough to discredit Kogi election – Yahaya Bello

The Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, on Tuesday said the
just-concluded governorship election in the state was free and fair
despite damning reports to the contrary by election observers.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Monday
declared Mr Bello the winner of the controversial poll.

Recall how Mr Bello of the All Progressive Congress (APC) won
the November 16 election with 406,222 votes to defeat Musa Wada of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 189,704 votes.

Natasha Akpoti of the Social Democratic Party came a distant
third with a score of 9,482 votes.

Mr Bello who spoke during an interview on Channels Television
breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, on Tuesday accepted that there
was violence during the election but said it is not enough to
discredit the poll.

The governor said the election was credible, that a
level-playing field was provided and that it was free and fair.

“In every election, there is bound to be one issue or the other
and you can’t take a pocket of issues to judge the general conduct
of the election,” he said.

“Regarding the comments of the civil society organisations, they
are entitled to their own opinions but let us know the parameters
with which they are judging this election.

“How many polling units did they visit out of 2,548 polling
units, 239 wards and 21 local governments across the difficult
terrains of this state? How many people have they reached out
to?

“Have they interviewed all the electorate? So what are their
yardsticks?” the governor asked.

Mr Bello’s reactions come after criticisms by many observers and
civil society groups, condemning the reported widespread incidents
of violence and voter intimidation.

The Diplomatic Watch had on Sunday also expressed alarm at the
reports of fatalities and missing people during the Kogi election
and urged stakeholders to call for calm.

“We express our alarm at reports of widespread incidents of
violence and intimidation, some of which were witnessed by our
teams in Kogi. There are reports of fatalities and people missing,
including INEC staff. Our thoughts are with all victims and their
families,” their statement read in part.

The Diplomatic Watch includes teams from Austria, the European
Union Delegation, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, and the United States who monitored Kogi and Bayelsa state
elections on November 16.

Also, the Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth &
Advancement (YIAGA Africa), on Sunday called on the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a new election in
Kogi State following reported cases of violence, vote-buying, and
manipulation of voters.

YIAGA said the elections in the state did not reflect the
preferences of voters because they were not given genuine
opportunity to exercise their right to vote.

The Centre for Democracy and Development, (CDD), on Monday, said
10 deaths and 129 cases of violence and electoral crimes were
recorded in the polls in Kogi and Bayelsa states.