The 2019 general
elections did not meet the credibility threshold based on the patterns of abuse
of processes and the consequent lack of integrity, the Situation Room has
observed in its report.
The Situation Room, a group of over 70 Civil Society
Organisations (CSOs) working on credible and transparent elections in Nigeria,
said the INEC’s operations fell short of its identified role and obligations.
The convener of
the group, Clement Nwankwo, revealed this yesterday at a press conference on
the 2019 Elections Report of the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room.
He said, “A
scrutiny of the registration numbers given by INEC reveals discrepancies
between the total number of registered voters before the elections and the
total number of registered voters announced by INEC during the collation in 30
of Nigeria’s 36 states.” Nwankwo also said,
“There should be
an independent inquiry into the poor management of the electoral process by
INEC,” adding that the inquiry “should address among other issues; procurement,
logistics management, role of the security agencies and abuse of process by
INEC officials.
”He also identified
the cost of conducting elections in Nigeria as being expensive and not
sustainable, adding that national conversation should be opened up on this.
On political
parties, Nwankwo said the group’s observation showed “flagrant abuse of
electoral laws by the two main political parties; including vote buying,
intimidation, use of hate speech and fake news.”
But INEC
yesterday insisted that the 2019 general elections were credible despite some
challenges.
The Chief Press Secretary to INEC Chairman, Mr. Rotimi Lawrence
Oyekanmi, told Daily Trust that he would not agree with what the Situation Room
said.
“Yes, there were
challenges, some of which were outside INEC’s control, but these challenges are
not enough for anyone or any organisation to make a sweeping statement that the
polls were not free and fair,” he said.
“I think this
narrows down to the kind of outcomes some people were expecting, and not
necessarily the genuine, objective analysis of what really took place.
If the results
had aligned with their expectations, the elections would be described as “free
and fair.
“But now that
the results turned out differently in some cases, then the elections are not
free and fair.