Saboteurs Forced INEC to Postpone Presidential Poll
Some politicians who succeeded in penetrating some state institutions to sabotage the Independent National Electoral Commission forced the body to postpone the presidential and National Assembly elections by one week, a report has claimed.
The document, the 2019 General Elections Report, was prepared by one of the accredited observation groups for the elections, Centre for Transparency Advocacy.
The 24-page report was presented in Abuja on Monday in Abuja.
The Chairman of INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, had attributed the postponement of the elections to logistic problems.
But the report claimed that some politicians induced some of the commission’s ad hoc workers financially to sabotage the process.
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It said the problems noticed by both foreign and local observers when the elections were finally held on February 23 were caused by forces beyond INEC’s control.
The report read, “A situation where INEC is not in control of the facilities and the personnel it needs to conduct free and fair elections can only lead to an unintended outcome, no matter the good intentions of various actors within the system.
“For instance, INEC does not control such state institutions as the police and other security forces, the Central Bank and the Nigerian Air Force or such private actors as the National Union of Road Transport Workers, all needed to secure voting precincts and facilitate the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials.
“What happens when there is an institutional conspiracy by state actors to sabotage INEC’s preparations and processes in order to work towards a particular party remaining in government or being voted into government at any level.”
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“What happens when politicians suborn state institutions’ officials to sabotage INEC and its carefully laid out plans and preparations at the last minute, which was exactly what happened, leading to the postponement of the presidential election that was supposed to be held on February 16, 2019?
“Some INEC ad hoc workers were suborned by politicians, considering that they are not permanent staff of the commission and with a lot of them susceptible to the temptation of immediate gratification for a day’s work without consideration for the consequences.”
The report asked INEC to ensure that all its members of staff found to be involved in electoral malpractices were prosecuted.
This, it said, would send signal to any workers or prospective staff members that the commission would never tolerate electoral malpractices in any form.
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The report added, “We recommend that INEC should lawfully review and investigate the activities of Electoral Officers, Returning Officers and other ad hoc workers whose conduct brought INEC’s name into disrepute during the elections.
“Critically, the use of lecturers as returning officers should be reviewed holistically.”
It urged the executive and the National Assembly to review the Electoral Act to enable INEC to discharge its duties diligently.
It urged the 9th National Assembly to work with INEC, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to enhance the electoral laws.
The group also made a case for investing more in technology, adding that it was embarrassing seeing the number of papers being carried all over the country during elections.
It held that the deployment of soldiers during elections was unlawful.
The report said, “While we generally commend the security services for helping with maintaining law and order during elections, we cannot overlook the fact that the deployment of military men was unlawful and uncalled for.
“Our laws do not give soldiers any role to play in our elections and our courts have ruled accordingly.”
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