How officials compromise 2019 election results- New Report

A report on the 2019 general elections in Nigeria has accused officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, security operatives and many others of compromise.

The report released by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) on Thursday, August 29, said the collation process for the 2019 election was chaotic, opaque and marred by all sorts of manipulations.

According to the report, five states across Nigeria including: Lagos, Kaduna, Sokoto, Rivers and Osun witnessed significant collation challenges.

Noting that it relied on reports from its observers on the field on the election days, CDD said electoral officers misconduct, deliberate denial of access to observers and media, logistical shortfalls, intentional disruption by politicians, political thugs and party agents, and intimidation of collation staff by security agents were part of the challenges that marred the election.

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“Some staff lacked the basic arithmetic skills needed for timely and accurate collation of results, thereby leading to errors in the result sheets, inconsistencies in collated figures, and delays in the time-sensitive process – the longer it takes to conclude the collation process beyond the stipulated time for concluding the process, the more doubts are created in the minds of voters that something untoward is happening to compromise the integrity of the collation process and, therefore, of the elections,” the report said.

Citing election process in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, CDD said, it was surprised that the three major states affected by insurgency were not among the states with very high level of reported collation challenges.

“Kano, Katsina and Plateau – each of which saw voter turnout in excess of one million – also did not record a high rate of collation incidents,” the CDD report said.

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Condemning the late arrival of election materials in most states and polling units in general, the report said given its sizeable budget, it is unclear why INEC was unable to provide basic tools required by the commission’s ward election officers and ad hoc staff to conduct ward-level collation.

“INEC claims that contracts were awarded for the purchase of necessary tools such as rechargeable lanterns, yet they were not available at most locations,” CDD said in its report

It further recommended a clarification of internal guidelines and the improvement of the processes for conducting collation in line with international best practices.

It also called for a more transparent and proactive publishing of activities for all elections through the INEC website and civil society organisations.

The report also suggested that all official and security operatives deployed for election process must be held accountable for any form of unprofessional or illegal conduct.

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The security agencies should also be refrained from obstructing the work of accredited observers and media or preventing them from accessing collation centres among many others.

The US in its warning said the ban is in commitment in working with the Nigerian government to straighten democracy in Nigeria.