Supplementary Polls: Attacks On Media, Observers, INEC Mar Polls – CDD - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
March 24, 2019
The Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD has condemnedattacks on ad hoc staff, media, observers and other electoral participants during the supplementary polls.
It said the attacks marred the polls.
The centre’s Director, MS Idayat Hassan who was representedby an analyst of CDD, Jideofor Adibe in Abuja, said that the group’sobservers noted incidents of violence and disruption of voting process.
Hassan said the cases were reported in Kano, Sokoto,Benue and Bauchi states where supplementary governorship and state houses ofassembly elections held.
She added that this was because Gama ward in NasarawaLGA in Kano State was strategic to winning the supplementary electionsby either of the two leading candidates.
Hassan said that in Sokoto, particularly in BodingaLGA, Bodinga ward, a dispute which eventually disrupted the election, eruptedbetween the agents of the two leading parties.
She said it was disrupted over attempts by a partyagent to assist voters in voting.
She said that evidence suggested that the deliberatedeployment of political thuggery during electionsseemed to have become the norm in Nigeria.
She said that the trend was extremely disturbing, andit was imperative to safeguard Nigeria’s  democracy by holding theperpetrators accountable.
Hassan said that the way thuggery was instrumentalisedin the elections queried the essence of the massive deployment of securityagents to guard the polls, especially when brigandage ruled.
She said in  several instances, the securityagents were reported to have turned a blind eye to the act of brigandageperpetrated by the political thugs.
She said that the electoral cycle witnessed so muchintimidation, harassment and attack on voters, journalists, observers and INECofficials.
“This unfortunate development, however, took anunprecedented turn in the Kano supplementary elections where party agents andthugs intimidated and attacked voters and observers in the course of exercisingtheir franchise or monitoring the process.’’
Hassan said there was a clear case of where partyagents and thugs coerced and intimidated voters to vote for their candidates.
She said that the high level of intolerance againstpoll monitors was not limited to observers.
She said that in spite of several attempts to entrenchpeacefully electoral democracy in Nigeria, elections have been marred byupsurge of violence.
She said that the level of impunity at which thisgruesome act was being prosecuted by hoodlums at the ballot box and theinability of security agents to respond adequately and hold perpetratorsaccountable were sources of concern.
Hassan said that incidences of underage voting andvote buying were also recorded where votes were sold for N10,000 and N15,000.
She said there was need to emphasise that the act ofvote buying was an offence punishable under the laws and those involved in theact should be arrested and prosecuted according to law.
This, she said, would discourage the increasing rateof the practice (NAN)