- Says: 300 incidents of reported to Human Rights Situation Room
By Yemi Monday
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has stated that Vote buying was reported in 42 locations across the country by its Human Rights Monitors, particularly in Lagos, Imo, Sokoto, Jigawa, Edo, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Kogi States.
It also stated that voters were offered money or other incentives to influence their votes.
This was contained in a preliminary Statement on 2023 Presidential and National Assembly Elections released on Sunday, 26 Feb. 2023 signed by Chief Tony Ojukwu, the Executive Secretary of NHRC.
The NHRC added that its 800 Human Rights Monitors across the country recorded and reported over 300 incidents of human rights violations and infractions of the electoral process to the Human Rights Situation Room during the conduct of the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday.
It further stated that the reports from its monitors across the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and calls received in the Human Rights Situation Room revealed that officials of the Independent National National Electoral Commission (INEC) and electoral materials arrived late in many polling units late, causing delays in accreditation and voting across the country.
According to NHRC, the Incidents of electoral violence were directly reported by its Monitors in three per cent of the polling units observed across the country stating that in Kogi State, a party agent was allegedly shot by opposition party thugs.
In Lagos and Rivers States, there were reported incidents of ballot snatching and attacks on voters and INEC officials.
On voter suppression NHRC confirmed that there were various reports of attempts to intimidate voters and INEC officials by party supporters and thugs and “these reports were received from States such as Rivers, Delta, Lagos, Kogi and Imo.”
NHRC also said that its monitors reported that in eight per cent of polling units, accreditation and voting were disrupted for various reasons, including the malfunctioning of election equipment and incidents of violence.
It added that in 43 per cent of over 1,000 polling units monitored by NHRC, counting of votes started late and, in some places, went on late into the night.
NHRC stated that “our Monitors also noted that in some polling units, INEC officials did not come with essential electoral materials, including stamps and inks.
In five polling units in Maiduguri, it noted that BVAS, which is an essential element of the voting process was not available.
The Commission also noted with concern that INEC call lines and feedback platforms could not be reached at various attempts by its Monitors in spite of various attempts.
On Voter Turn-out and Disenfranchisement, it declared: “Our monitors noted with satisfaction the commendable turnout of voters across the country. This is a marked improvement from previous presidential and National Assembly elections in 2019. Once again, the Commission commends Nigerians for their patriotism.”
The Commission however noted with regret, the disenfranchisement of Nigerians across Lagos, Bayelsa and Kogi States.
According to NHRC, on BVAS, “our report shows 92 per cent success with accreditation using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). Just as in off cycle elections in the States, BVAS has shown, “we however noted the reported cases of inability or failure to upload election results at most of the polling units after counting, even in city centres like Abuja and Lagos.”
On the voting process and accreditation of voters: The NHRC monitors reported that the accreditation process was smooth. 92 per cent of voters were successfully accredited while eight per cent were unsuccessful.
It stressed that “our monitors reported that the process of voting was challenging in some parts of the country due to the following factors:
“Upsurge in the number of voters without a corresponding increase in the number of polling personnel meant that the voting process is unduly prolonged and heightening vulnerabilities to electoral violence and malpractices.”
It added that another factor was late arrival of personnel and materials meant that voting commenced late and voters and polling officials were exhausted, stating that “our Human Rights Monitors also noted that the reassignment of polling units did not achieve its purpose as some Polling Units had just few voters and others had an upsurge of voters.
Some of the voters who were reassigned to new polling units could not locate them on time and those who did could not access the new polling units due to distance and lack of transportation.”
On Law Enforcement Agents, it stated: “Generally, it was observed that the conduct of law enforcement and security personnel deployed to ensure a peaceful election was commendable. “
However, the Commission notes: The inability of law enforcement and security agents to stop violence at polling units; Cases of human rights violations attributed to security agents including the use of force and extra-judicial killings and Crowd control: It was reported that in some polling units, the crowd was overwhelming, and the security personnel were few in number.