Issued: In Abuja at 8:00am, Thursday, 11th November 2021
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room’s observation of the Anambra State Governorship Election on Saturday, 6th November 2021 and the subsequent supplementary election conducted in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State on Tuesday, 9th November 2021, has come to a close. Situation Room received reports from its field observers, partners and networks in the course of the exercise.
In addition to our previous statements on the Anambra State Governorship Election, Situation Room notes as follows:
Election Administration: The administration of the Anambra State Governorship Election appears to have suffered from severe logistical challenges. Situation Room observed protracted delays in the opening of polls in most polling units, as a result of late deployment of ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and materials from Registration Area Centres (RACs) across the State. This issue reoccurred on a larger scale in the supplementary election held in Ihiala Local Government Area and was rather disappointing as it was expected that INEC would have been better prepared to deploy staff and materials early, with polls slated to open at 10:00am and the supplementary election holding in only one Local Government Area.
At the onset of the election on Saturday, 6th November, the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) posed challenges to the accreditation process in many voting locations, particularly failure to authenticate fingerprints and detect faces. This delayed the voting process. In some other instances where the batteries of the machines went flat, INEC’s technical team responded and rectified the situation when contacted. However, the performance of the BVAS improved significantly in the supplementary election conducted in Ihiala LGA on 9th November. Reports from our observers indicated that it took an average of 3 minutes to accredit one voter when it worked, thereby making the voting process swift. During the Saturday, 6th November election, the intervals between voters lasted up to 10 minutes due to these delays from the BVAS. Although INEC has now identified the cause of the delays, this would have been a major setback if there was huge voter turnout.
The upload of polling unit election results to INEC’s Result Viewing (I-Rev) portal was satisfactory. From Situation Room’s tracking, upload of results started at about 5:00pm, an hour after the extended time for the close of polls on Saturday, 6thNovember. As at 9:30pm, 60.1% of results had been uploaded. This rose to 73.5% at 12:30pm on Sunday, 7th November and further went up to 88.9% before 10:00am on Tuesday, 9th November. This meant that 5.4% of polling unit results, apart from those from Ihiala LGA were yet to be uploaded more than 48 hours after the conclusion of voting on 6th November. Following the conclusion of the election with the conduct of the supplementary election in Ihiala LGA, upload of results from eight LGAs are yet to be completed as at the time of compilation of this report but have now been completed.
With respect to compliance with COVID-19 protocols, Situation Room observers sighted hand sanitisers at the polling units. However, social distancing and the use of face masks were not enforced.
The performance of ad-hoc staff during the election showed that there were knowledge gaps of the election process. In some of the polling units observed, ad-hoc staff struggled with operating the BVAS and were not aware of some procedures, such as displaying the register of voters in their polling unit of deployment. An example of this was observed in PU 003 (New Road Market Primary School), Odoakpu VI ward of Onitsha South LGA.
Election Security: The Saturday, November 6th election was largely peaceful in spite of the peculiarities of the security situation in Anambra State in the months leading up to the election. There were only a few reports of skirmishes caused by thugs and miscreants in some areas, during the election. Security agents were deployed to most of the polling units observed. The absence of security agents in a few polling units did not adversely affect the voting process.
During the supplementary election in Ihiala LGA, there were several reports of violence perpetrated by thugs around the polling units. At PU 005 (Umuatuegwu Primary School) in Okija IV ward, one of our observers was almost beaten up by political thugs. We also received reports of disruptive activities by miscreants in PU 001 (Orsu Central School) in Orsumoghu ward.
Situation Room notes that security agents on election duty were mostly civil in their conduct and were not reported to have harassed or intimidated voters or election observers. However, in some of the voting locations, they let vote buying take place unabated. There were also reports of inter-agency rivalry among security agents. Some security operatives from Nigeria Police also complained of non-payment of their election duty allowances. This is coming after reassurances by the Police that all personnel had been paid before the commencement of the election.
Voter Turnout: According to INEC, a total of 253,388 voters were accredited to participate in this election. This number stands for 11.2% of the 2,252,471 registered voters in Anambra State. Situation Room notes that several newly registered voters were unable to collect their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) within the few days provided for this exercise, just before the election. This may have contributed to the low voter turnout, in addition to the tense political environment in the State in the lead up to the election.
Vote Buying: The menace of vote trading was once again observed in this election. In some polling units observed, there was an organised procedure for identifying voters who cast their votes for a particular political party in order to reward them afterwards. In other instances, party agents were soliciting for votes, and it became a matter of becoming the highest bidder, to gain the votes of the electorate. This unfortunate, recurring trend appears to be deepening in Nigeria’s elections and needs to be urgently addressed with the co-operation of all stakeholders involved, including political parties, citizens and security agents. However, Situation Room received the report of voters in Anambra State, who bluntly refused to sell their votes, chasing away the vote buyers. Situation Room is disappointed that the perpetrators of this electoral offence were not arrested by security operatives .
Conclusion
- Generally, the Anambra State Governorship election was violence free to the relief of stakeholders. Situation Room commends the commitment of individuals and groups, who made efforts to mediate peace and reduce political tension in the State.
- INEC‘s administration of the election fell short of the expected standard, especially in the light of the fact that the Commission had repeatedly assured of its readiness to conduct the election. The introduction of the BVAS is a welcome development but election preparations need to be improved upon, to deliver efficiency in its use for the accreditation process. Situation Room calls on INEC to make the necessary efforts to adequately prepare for other off-cycle elections scheduled for 2022 (Ekiti and Osun States) as well as the 2023 general elections. Where the Commission finds that it is unprepared to hold an election, it should resort to alternatives within the limits of the law, to decide on the best course of action.
- The incidence of low voter turnout is an issue of serious concern in Anambra State and Nigeria as a whole. Election stakeholders need to critically interrogate the diminishing rate of citizens’ participation in the electoral process, with a view to overturning this trend.
- Vote trading has continued to feature in Nigeria’s elections and will remain if perpetrators go unpunished. This brings to light the imminent need to establish the National Electoral Offences Commission prosecute electoral offenders.
- We commend the women in Anambra State for rejecting money to sell their votes and going ahead to vote their conscience. This should be emulated by other citizens who continue to sell their votes to the highest bidder without drawing the linkages between this act and the inability to demand for accountability and better governance from leaders.
- Situation Room enjoins all stakeholders to continue to sustain their efforts and support towards an improved electoral process and deepening democracy in Nigeria.
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SIGNED:
Ene Obi
Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
Asma’u Joda
Co-Convener, Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room
James Ugochukwu
Co-Convener Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room