A coalition of domestic observers and Civil society Organisations that
were accredited to monitor the rerun election in Bayelsa State on Saturday
expressed concern about some lapses noticed since Friday describing it as
unhealthy.
The coalition also confirmed reports that some collation officers from the
Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), have been compromised by the All
Progressives Congress with N300,000 bribe.
The group specifically wondered why INEC, through its actions and inaction
has paved the way for desperate politicians to thwart their efforts for a
credible election.
While appealing to INEC and security agencies to be up to their
responsibilities, the observers at a press conference held at the
secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Yenagoa, also
recounted their ordeal and worries about the activities of some
politicians and reign of terror.
The leader of the of the coalition and Director-General, Center for
Credible Leadership and Citizenship Awareness, Dr. Nwambu Gabriel,
expressed concern over “some fundamental issues that has erupted in the
Bayelsa election rerun that calls for urgent attention.”
He said, “”We learnt that some of them have collected N300,000 and have
swapped the original with the fake forms. And they released the original
sheets to some disgruntled politicians. The essence of this is to doctor
and effect election results and find a way of ensuring that Independent
gets to General collation center.
“The registration of civil societies organisation is basically to observe
the degree of compliance election is to ensure compliance of INEC,
politicians and their supporters. That is why observers groups are purely
apolitical, and purely neutral.
“I want to state very clearly that the essence of history is to learn from
the past. And to mitigate and prevent the occurrence of sad event .
Yesterday we were at the waterfront, trying to get our chattered boats
for our onward movement to Southern Ijaw. We were also amazed that some
INEC officials were also there even earlier than us. They were there from
6am to 6pm with sensitive materials for the election of Southern Ijaw but
they could not get speed boats to take them there.
“We feel that this is odd because it is expected that sensitive materials
should have gotten to their destinations earlier because of the difficult
terrain. The terrain is difficult and most of the officials from Abuja and
other places in Nigeria are not used to some of these areas. And they
stayed for a whole day dedicated to their work but at d end of the day,
could not get speed boats on further inquiry We discovered INEC had
contracted someone to get boats for them.
“We are addressing this conference because today we received another
information that while materials are being moved to their destinations, as
we speak to you, snatching of ballot and other sensitive materials have
commenced. I mentioned history because some of these are lacunas that were
noticed during the December 5 polls. So we thought that some of these
things would have been mitigated but sadly it seems to be reoccurring.
“Again there are wide spread speculations that some of the presiding
officers that are designated to some polling units have decided to
compromise and trade off forming EC8A,which is the form on which you are
going to enter the results from each polling unit.
“We want to make a recommendation to INEC. We are calling on Prof. Mahmud
Yakubu who we believe in so much. We know that know that he would
replicate and even do better than Prof Jega, but some few people are
determined to rubbish his good works . We trust him and we trust INEC and
we know that they are determined they are determined to enthrone a
credible election in Bayelsa State and Nigeria in general.
“But we want to recommend that INEC should announce the results at the
polling units soon after election, and at the wards before onward
movement of results to the general collation center. This is synonymous
to a credible election, We are not indicting anybody. If possible the
results should be airlifted because i know We have the support of the
Nigeria airforce and police helicopters. to avoid the incident of
snatching.
“I also know that before the elections there has been reports of violence,
killings and these perpetrators are known. I am also calling on security
agencies to bring these perpetrators to book to serve as a deterrent to
other. If they are allowed to guide scotfree it will send a wrong signal
across the country that you can do whatever you want in the name of
election and nothing will happen We must stop this. Prof Atahiru Jega
left a good legacy that were must build on for credible election.