The European Union Election Observation Mission Nigeria (EU EOM) 2023 has said the just concluded gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections were full of flaws.
In its second preliminary assessment, the organisation claimed that the election’s circumstances violated people’s freedom of expression.
The EU EOM noted that state actors and actors interfered with the March 18 election, claiming that these individuals were behind the organised violence and intimidation that took place during the elections. These acts hampered the electoral process and restricted the public’s ability to select the candidates of their choice, it noted.
“On election day, several acts of thuggery and intimidation halted polling in various locations, especially across the south but also in states in the center and northern areas,” the EU EOM monitors said.
According to the EU EOM report, 21 people died, as voters, INEC staff, citizen observers, and media became targets of violent incidents in polling places throughout a number of states.
It said although a poor level of voter participation meant reduced pressure on INEC operations throughout the day, the majority of polling places opened on schedule with supplies and workers deployed. Vote-buying made the elections’ conduct even worse, the observers said.
Dataphyte observed some processes of vote-buying by political agents across the country during the election, collaborating the EU’s assertions.
Dataphyte reported an incident in Ondo Central Senatorial District., and Ifedore LGA. Ipogun/Ibule at PU 017 in Ondo State, where an agent was seen buying votes. The agent had to use an electronic transfer because of prevailing cash shortages. The people cslled their account numbers to the party agents.
In another incident in the Olorunda Local Government Area of Osun State, a party agent was seen negotiating with voters. This incident happened at PD 012, Ward 7.
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Unlike the presidential election, the organisation observed that the second election did not experience a BVAS (Bimodal Voter Accreditation System) breakdown. In contrast to the presidential election, 67 to 97 percent of the gubernatorial election results had been uploaded by mid-day of March 19.
The EU EOM evaluated the performance of the media and noted that only 15 out of 28 states had professional media coverage of the election on March 18,
The organization made a social media-related observation that internet communication for the governor’s race was more issue-focused. but emphasised that misinformation and propaganda damaged the environment and misled the electorate.
On the role of civil society, the EU EOM noted their input, which was commendable. They engaged the public in providing crucial information, highlighting the failures of the electoral body and calling for greater transparency and accountability, the body said.
This report is a follow-up to the first assessment done in the presidential and national assembly elections.
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