The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) says the Nov. 11 off-cycle governorship election in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa were highly credible and an improvement in the efficiency of the commission.
CACOL, one of the frontline anti-corruption and democracy civil society organisations, gave this position in its “General Overview of the Off-cycle Elections in Three States”.
The overview was signed by CACOL Chairman, Mr Debo Adeniran on Friday in Lagos.
He said there was a remarkable improvement in the efficiency of the INEC, with regard to the conduct of the just concluded off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi, despite multifarious challenges.
According to him, Nigeria will, in no time get elections right, if the serious efforts put into conducting the off-season polls continue to be replicated in subsequent elections.
The activist said that in the final analysis, the elections in Bayelsa and Kogi scored higher marks in terms of organisation, voter turnout, peaceful election, except for isolated incidents.
“All said and done, we observed that, despite pre-election apprehension, the conduct and outcome of the off-season election, especially in Kogi , was highly credible,” Adeniran said.
Commending INEC, the activist urged independent and official election observers not to misinform the public on the conduct of elections due to political leanings.
Adeniran said that this would ultimately not be in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy.
“Independent and official observers must also shun deliberate misinformation about election conduct as a result of political leaning for objective analyses in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy,” he said.
Adeniran also scored security agencies high, saying that in Imo where security agents had significant challenges, they were able to surmount them.
“The security agencies performed creditably in their election assignments in the three states though they still have large rooms for improvement.
“In Bayelsa and Kogi in particular, they did very well but they seemed to confront huge pressures in Imo.
“Even in Imo , if they (security agents) hadn’t been as firm as they were, things would have gone really bad,” the activist said.
He reiterated that it was not difficult to see some considerable improvements in the efficiency of INEC to superintend free, fair and credible polls.
Adeniran said that Nigerians could see deliberate efforts by the commission to get things done the right way.
“We can see how INEC struggled with multifarious challenges of local political hostilities, the usual politicians’ shenanigans with a view to corrupting the process, dangers to their personnel, sensitive and non- sensitive materials and the ever present logistics nightmares.
“In the midst of all these challenges, INEC seemed to have performed with visible evidence of improvements in the management of those elections.
“If the serious efforts put into conducting the last off-cycle elections continue to be replicated in subsequent elections, it won’t take long before we ultimately get it right,” he said.
According to him, this should not be however, mistaken for saying everything went perfectly in the elections.
He said: “For instance, we unequivocally condemn incidents of voter suppression, among other challenges, particularly in Imo.
“We recommend that in subsequent elections, better security arrangements be made for INEC officials and materials.
“More importantly, the commission should find the means to collaborate with non- politicians in local communities for support and peaceful polls,” he said.
Adeniran said, in contrary, the team saw in Kogi how some patriotic voters assisted some INEC officials whose vehicles had issues by carrying non-sensitive materials on their heads to polling units and arranging chairs and tables for them.
“This showed passion for a free and credible election and a realisation that election duties belong to all citizens and not just INEC and security agencies alone,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that INEC conducted off cycle governorship elections on Nov. 11 in Kogi, Imo and Bayelsa.
