Civil Society groups who monitored the Rivers rerun elections have queried
\nwhy Security officials took away voting materials from polling areas.<\/p>\n
In a situation room report made available to newsmen, the Nigeria Civil
\nSociety Situation Room urged the Independent National Electoral
\nCommission, INEC, to make public all incidence reports all its officials
\nwho participated in the Rivers rerun election.<\/p>\n
The Civil Society Report Reads:<\/p>\n
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room observed the suspended elections
\nin Rivers State held on December 10th\u00a02016. Field observers were deployed
\nto 5 of the LGAs with the largest proportion of elections being redone.<\/p>\n
With regards to the election atmosphere, the Situation Room issued a
\npre-election statement on the toxic conditions created by political
\nparties before the poll. Reports of our observation of the Rivers State
\nre-run election are as follows:<\/p>\n
Polling Conduct<\/p>\n
The elections started late in all of the areas observed with the earliest
\nreported starting times being 1030am, with other locations reporting a
\nstart significantly later (Gbe, Gokana 140pm). Delays were so severe in
\nparts of Khana and Eleme we were unable to confirm if voting started at
\nall. Interviews with voters in Khana Ward 3 (Lleuku\/Nyokoro) reported that
\nmaterials\u00a0\u00a0and staff never arrived in Lleuku and Nyokoro.<\/p>\n
The delays and lack of public information on the situation added to an In at least two locations there was obvious interference in proper polling Disruption of Voting \/ Collation In both cases a team of police and military personnel arrived and removed Situation Room observers interviewed voters from Bodo (St Pius School There are serious allegations by observers, the public, and party The credibility of an election hinges on a fair process in the build up to The violent disruption of voting and collation in the areas observed means INEC has issued an interim statement effectively labelling the poll a Lastly, we call on INEC to take the following actions: A breakdown of results for all areas in the state (to unit level) for both An investigation that includes independent actors should be initiated into The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Civil Society groups who monitored the Rivers rerun elections have queried why Security officials took away voting materials from polling areas. In a situation room report made available to newsmen,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":54976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nalready tense and difficult situation, in some cases leading to the
\nabandonment of the poll (as in Gbe, Gokana). Although disputes\u00a0\u00a0with
\npolitical parties during the early stages distribution were an obvious
\nfactor Rivers State voters deserve a better explanation as to why their
\nstate again ran 24 hours behind all other states on the start of materials
\ndistribution and why remedial measures were inadequate.
\nVoting was noted as relatively calm and security appeared to be reasonably
\nwell deployed and managing local scenes well until around\u00a01pm<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n
\n(Etche Ward 13 Unit 16 ballot box stuffing, Gokana – B Dere Community
\nPrimary School party agent handling voters ballots). There was no attempt
\nby election officials or security personnel to truncate this activity.<\/p>\n
\nIn two wards in Gokana Local Government (B Dere CP School Ward 4 & Bomu
\nWard 7 Units 1-8) Situation Room observers were watching the close of
\nvoting and early counting at school and church locations with a cluster of
\nunits which was proceeding without any significant problem.<\/p>\n
\nall of the election materials and officials from the location. In Bomu,
\npresiding officers at\u00a03pm<\/span><\/span>\u00a0were waiting to count and telling voters they
\nwere waiting for their supervisor. The situation was calm. A combined team
\nof police and army personnel arrived in Hiluxes with an armored personnel
\ncarrier, chased voters away, and carried away materials and ad hoc staff.
\nIn B Dere, the security team was accompanied by a party agent for one of
\nthe major parties and departed with party supporters from the location.<\/p>\n
\nWard\u00a0\u00a0who reported that materials were taken away by a combined team of
\npersonnel after a contrived security incident which started with Police
\nSARS personnel shooting in the air in the vicinity of\u00a0\u00a0the polling units).
\nInterviews and media reports have named Mbeari John Meebari being shot and
\nkilled in this incident.<\/p>\n
\nrepresentatives of the same incidents happening systematically in at least
\nEtche, Andoni, and Eleme local governments in addition to Gokana.
\nCredibility of the Poll<\/p>\n
\nthe poll, a conducive environment, and a transparent counting of votes.<\/p>\n
\nthat these polls will not be accepted locally as credible, and conduct
\nobserved has called into question the neutrality of security forces and of
\nelection officials.<\/p>\n
\nsuccess. If this statement pre-dates the breakdown seen on the afternoon
\nof\u00a0Saturday<\/span><\/span>\u00a012th\u00a0this needs correcting. A failure to acknowledge the
\nserious issues in the poll and the impact on collation would call INEC\u2019s
\nown credibility into question.
\nRestoring Transparency<\/p>\n
\nAll incident reports and accounts of its officials should be made
\navailable without favour to Election tribunals, political parties making
\nsubmissions and election observers<\/p>\n
\nthe March and December polls should be made available to political
\nparties, observers, and the media.<\/p>\n
\nthe security incidents affecting the December 10th\u00a0polls, specifically
\nlooking at why so many areas had officials and materials removed before
\ncollation took place at polling units.<\/p>\n
\nworking in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria and
\nincludes such groups as Policy andLegal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN
\nFoundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Democracy and Development
\n(CDD),Proactive Gender Initiative (PGI) Enough is Enough Nigeria,
\nWANGONET, Partners for Electoral Reform, JDPC and Youth Initiative for
\nAdvocacy, Growth & Advancement (YIAGA). Others are Development Dynamics,
\nCentre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Stakeholders Democracy
\nNetwork, Human Rights Monitor, Election Monitor, Reclaim Naija, Institute
\nfor Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, CITAD, Alliance for Credible
\nElections (ACE), Nigeria Women Trust Fund, CISLAC, and several other CSOs
\nnumbering more than seventy.
\n——————————
\nContact information:
\nWebsite:\u00a0situationroom.placng.
\nEmail:situationroom@placng.org<\/a>
\nTwitter:\u00a0@situationroomng
\n#NigeriaSituationRoom
\nFacebook:\u00a0Facebook.com\/
\nHotlines:\u00a009095050505,