From Blessing Okorite, Port Harcourt
With the conclusion of the 2019 elections, accusation of violence and manipulations of results is still reverberating across the nation. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which promised to be professional and abide by the Electoral Act during the polls, is being accused of incompetence in the discharge of its duty.
The election witnessed massive security interference with the two dominant political parties being the beneficiaries of such unwarranted intervention.
The level of alleged military interference in the electoral processes, especially in Rivers State, which also attracted comments from the international community, marred the 2019 elections in the state. The electorate at the onset were looking at a political battle between the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, with Governor Nyesom Wike, as their leader, and the All Progressives Congress, APC, led by the former governor of the state and current Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.
But ahead of the elections, the APC had internal crisis, following the party’s congresses conducted in the state. Some aggrieved members of the party, including Senator Magnus Abe, had challenged the outcome of the congresses, which was conducted by the Rotimi Amaechi.
This led to series of court cases, culminating in INEC, removing APC from the electoral processes in the state, including their contesting in the National Assembly, governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
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At this point, the PDP felt comfortable enough with the removal of its arch rival, unaware of the alternative plan by the Amaechi-led faction to ensure that it participated in the polls. Few days to the March 9 governorship election, the party adopted the candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, Mr. Biokpomabo Awara to challenge Wike.
Mr. Awara was a quiet governorship candidate until APC declared its support for his aspiration. Prior to his adoption, he was not known to have embarked on serious campaign across the length and breadth of the state or advertise in any medium.
State factional Publicity Secretary of APC, Chris Finebone, in a statement he made on March 6, announced that the party will vote for the AAC governorship candidate and other candidates of the relatively unknown party during the March 9 elections.
He said they decided to adopt AAC for the elections because both political parties share same ideology for Rivers people.
Finebone said: “Well, the news I have for you is that members of APC in Rivers State will vote for the governorship candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, Biokpomabo Awara.
“His candidacy fits into the strategic quest of APC to give Rivers people equity, justice and fair play.”
Residents in the state became panicky, following this announcement. Many were afraid that with the development, the stage may have been set for the elections in the state to either be made bloody or cancelled as a ploy to allow APC participate in a rescheduled poll.
The March 9 exercise started smoothly with no record of violence initially as compared to the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state. But few hours into the election, agents of political parties, INEC ad-hoc staff, the electorate and politicians started expressing fear of possible interference in the exercise by the military. They alleged that men in military uniform had taken over polling units and wards intimidating voters, hijacking ballot boxes and also creating violence in some areas of the state.
While leaders of PDP were accusing APC of using military men to allegedly snatch ballot boxes and to write results, the APC leadership was celebrating that their adopted candidate has won.
As the PDP and the electorate were in a state of confusion over the outcome of the election, the opposition APC organised a press conference declaring that Awara has swept Governor Wike out of the Briggs House. But, APC’s celebration was cut short, following moves by INEC to suspend the electoral process in the state.
There was mixed reaction in the state following the suspension as announced by INEC on March 10. The electoral umpire, through its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr. Festus Okoye, said the development was as a result of alleged violence and destruction of electoral materials.
Okoye said, “Based on reports from our officials in the field, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has determined that there has been widespread disruption of election conducted on March 9, 2019 in Rivers State.
“These initial reports suggest that violence occurred in a substantial number of polling units and collation centres, staff have been taken hostage and materials including result sheets have either been seized or destroyed by unauthorized persons. In addition, safety of our staff appears to be in jeopardy all over the state and the commission is concerned about the credibility of the process.
“Consequently, at a meeting held today, March 10, 2019, the Commission has decided to suspend all electoral processes in the state until further notice. This is in line with Section 26 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and Clause 47(e) of the Regulations and Guidelines of the Commission.”
But the position of INEC did not go down well with the PDP. The party said Wike, its governorship candidate, should be declared the winner.
The party stated that its candidates won all the political seats contested in the March 9, including the governorship and state House of Assembly elections.
Briefing newsmen in Port Harcourt, PDP Chairman in the state, Mr. Felix Obuah stressed that with the alleged results declared by INEC, the party won all the 26 House of Assembly seats, wondering why the governorship election results should be different.
On his part, Chief Isaac Wonwu, Rivers Governorship candidate of Labour Party, expressed worries that Rivers people have been robbed of their mandate. He called for the cancellation of the election in the state.
He said, “The issue of Rivers State has been in the eyes of Nigerians, even to the world. Conducting elections in the state in the past has always turned out to be a theater of war and becoming very worrisome.
“What we witnessed on Saturday, March 9, 2019 in Rivers State was a mere demonstration of power by some few politicians who are desperate at the detriment of Rivers people. It was not an election; it was sham and must be condemned by any democrat and any responsive Nigerians.
“The entire election was a sham. There was no clear election, it was more or less a militarized process and it was a show of force, expression of impunity where people are forced to declare a winner. You don’t call that election.”
Victor Fingesi, the candidate of Action Democratic Party, said the suspension of the electoral process was a welcome development.
He said: “It is a good development that the collation of results was suspended by INEC, because across the state on Saturday, there was factually war everywhere where the entire electoral processes was militarized in simple election processes. The time has come for Rivers people to sit back and factor out a way to resolve this war.
“In my own opinion, whether we like it or not, the electoral materials have gone into the wrong hand. Electoral materials have been moved to places they were not supposed to be moved to.
“I think we are calling for a full cancellation of the whole process, so that there could be a new process put in place where Rivers people can go and exercise their franchise and let the real winners emerge and not those who took it by the gun or by buying votes.”
Chief Precious Elekima, governorship candidate of Social Democratic Party, SDP, condemned the invasion of polling units, ward collation centers, rack centers and LGA collation centers by heavily armed suspected thugs dressed in military uniforms purporting to be members of the Armed Forces.
He said judging from the exercise, he should be declared the winner of the governorship election in the state.
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He said, “Permit us to say that because of the experience gained during the presidential election on the February 23r, 2019, we made sure that our various agents have their writing materials to write all figures down after counting. And judging from the totality of votes recorded, which as at now stands as 956,000 votes in favour of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, with a spread in more than 20 LGAs, we believe we should be declared winner of the March 9, governorship election now suspended. We therefore, call on the Resident Electoral Commissioner and the State Returning Officer to declare Chief Precious Elekima as the authentic winner of the state governorship election.”
The military, in its response to accusation of involvement in the electoral violence and malpractice said such accusation was baseless and unfounded.
A statement, signed by Army spokesman, Col Sagir Musa, on alleged soldier disruption of electoral process in Rivers reads: “The NA (Nigerian Army) wishes to state that it is totally baseless, untrue and therefore capable of misleading unsuspected members of the public, especially when there is no credible record of such involvement anywhere in Nigeria before, during and after the 2019 elections.
“The NA, as a responsible organization, wishes to debunk such misrepresentation in order to set the record straight.
“Similarly, it is on record that the NA has been globally applauded by many individuals, foreign and local elections observers for its sacrifices/roles in creating an enabling environment for a secure, transparent and peaceful conduct of the elections.
“The NA has also drawn the attention of the public to mischievous activities of some selfish individuals who recruited thugs dressed in military uniform and armed to harass and intimidate their opponents.
“In some cases, as reported, and as indicated in various intelligence reports, – hoodlums dressed in military fatigue snatched ballot boxes and other electoral materials. Some INEC staffs were reportedly abducted.”
“The NA, for the umpteenth time, reiterates that it will remain apolitical, neutral and professional in the conduct of the 2019 general election and in all its assigned roles across the nation in line with the directive of the Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen TY Buratai.”