Electoral violations, violence remain INEC’S key challenges ahead of polls
AS the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) readies its systems and personnel for the rescheduled general elections, there are still tell-tale signs that violation of rules and election-related violence could mar the crucial polls.
Apprehensions over the 2019 general elections remain high, particularly following the level of killings and brigandage that heralded the botched presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.
For instance, in the Southeast zone, ansinvestigation shows that there was stuffing of ballot boxes with thumb-printed voting materials in Oji River, Enugu State. Just as in
Abia State, which involved adhoc staff of INEC among other compromises that ordinarily should have affected the exercise had it held.
Also in Ebonyi State, two persons were confirmed dead and many others sustained various degrees of injuries following election-related violence that erupted in some parts of the state. It was learnt that the two persons were killed in Ngbo Agbaja ward, Izzi Local Government of the state by suspected political thugs, while six others who sustained bullet wounds are now receiving treatment at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki 1 and 2.
This is aside from the report that went out a few days to the botched election about some planted Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDS) on Ugwuogo Idembia Bridge in Ezza South Local Government Area of the state.
The state governor, David Umahi, had confirmed at the weekend that two persons had been arrested over the bomb story, adding that their arrest followed intelligence reports made available to security agencies in the state.
Umahi said that a National Assembly candidate of a political party had also gone to a quarry site in the state to purchase explosives, but was turned down by the operators who reported the incident, even as another Federal House of Representative candidate was arrested in Ezza North LGA for allegedly shooting sporadically in his village.
On the day of the aborted poll proper, the APC senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South constituency, Onu Prince Nwaeze, allegedly escaped assassination attempt when some thugs suspected to be working for the state government invaded his country home at Uburu, Ohaozara council.
Onu, who has raised the alarm over threats to his life and family, has appealed to the Inspector General of Police and the military high command to wade into the matter and save his life.
Although the state government through the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Emma Uzor, denied the attack and described the senatorial candidate as an “attention seeker”, Onu alleged that he was thoroughly beaten and arrested alongside his aides at his residence and taken to the police station at Uburu on the instructions of the governor.
He said: “I was in my house in Obiozara, in Ohaozara, when suddenly I saw a truck-load of military personnel that parked near my house. I had to call on military authority, Lieutenant Agor Funsho, who is the Commander attached to the botched election on Saturday to inquire whether he was aware of his men being in my house. Hardly had I finished the call when the same military offi- cers entered my compound.
“When I looked up to the gate, I saw the entourage of the governor. I saw Silas Onu, Nwanne Onu, Maxwell Umahi, Onu Nwoye who followed the military inside my compound and an ADC to the governor and Austin Umahi, the Southeast Vice Chairman of the PDP. They were all inside my compound. It was this that made me suspect that it was not a friendly visit. So I told the leader of the team that all the people in plain clothes should leave my compound. So he ordered them to pull back and they obliged. And I now asked him who really sent them and demanded whether their Unit Commander was aware they were in my house.
“On mentioning their Commander, they tried to retreat towards the gate and I followed them. It was then I saw a white vehicle at my gate where the governor, Dave Umahi sat; he was sitting in front. I demanded to know from his ADC what their mission was but he rebuffed me and started interrogating my security men. So I stood by the gate. I never knew that they were waiting for their thugs who drove in a few minutes later. It was at that point the governor asked his ADC to deal with me and that nothing would happen. So they pounced on me and started beating me in front of my gate.
“The moment I received a deep cut on my face, the DPO from Uburu Police Station rushed and handcuffed me. He bundled me into their car and took me to their station. I was there until the Commissioner of Police drove from Abakaliki to my place and ordered that I be treated while he assigned an officer, who obtained my statement in writing.”
However, the governor’s press secretary told The Guardian: “He is seeking cheap popularity. How can he say that the governor led thugs to attack him? The governor cannot descend to that level. Who is he in the first place? The governor is not a candidate in the senatorial election and has neither problem with him nor any other person.”
Uzor said the governor was on routine inspection on that day when suddenly a gun- shot was heard around the area, adding that the governor was with the DPO of Uburu, his security details and some soldiers and they decided to investigate what was happening.
“On getting there”, Uzor stated, “they discovered that he (Onu) was held hostage by some thugs who apparently wanted money from him over the failed election. So they decided to rescue him and took him to the police station. It has nothing to do with the governor. It is unfortunate that he is now claiming he was attacked by the same people who rescued him.”
On the spate of violence trailing the election and how to avert such, a security consultant, Ikechukwu Mba, declared: “If politicians can play by the rules guiding elections, we will not have incidents of electoral violence. If INEC could stick to its guidelines and not show itself to pander towards any interest, we will have achieved a milestone that could save a whole lot. Likewise, if security agencies could stick to their rules of engagement and see themselves as professionals, who have come to serve the masses, we will reduce electoral violence. So any how you look at it, it is something that involves every stakeholder if we must get it right in terms of security.”
But a legal practitioner, Chief Goddy Uwazurike, noted that the way it is, it would be difficult for anybody to think that violence in the coming elections could be averted following what he described as “desperation on the part of the political parties”.
Uwazurike added that there was increased tension in the country at the moment because the political parties, especially All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are eager to win the elections among other reasons.
He said: “Take the South-south and Southeast for instance, APC has become so desperate because it is interested in making inroads in these zones. They are not bothered about the implication of certain actions and statements. Therefore, tension is brewing. Most of the politicians in these two zones feel that the only way to retain their relevance anywhere they are is to win election for their party in their ward. That is a dangerous thing because, whether you are popular or not, they want to ensure victory. “Again the electoral umpire has not shown signs that it is impartial. There are allegations here and there that the body is working for the interest of a particular party and with that, there is increased anger on the side of the other parties and their candidates and they want to make things difficult for them.”
Uwazuruike said that brigandage and violence could be averted when the youths are meaningfully engaged, stressing that, “they easily yield their services in the elections because they don’t have an alternative.”
He remarked that based on the ugly developments noticed in the botched elections, there was the need for security agencies and stakeholders to move in with the aim of providing measures that could prevent reoccurrences, adding however that “the way it is, it does not appear that anybody is taking notice that lives have been lost and property destroyed even when we have not taken off.”
Also a security expert, Mr. Benji Oha, said the Federal Government was in the best position to contain possible electoral violence in the coming polls, since according to him, “it should see the security agencies as serving the interests of the masses and not a particular party or candidate.”
Rivers
PERHAPS because the history of elections in Rivers State in the recent past has been characterized by political tensions and violence,
“Apprehensions over the 2019 general elections remain high, particularly following the level of killings and brigandage that heralded the botched presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday