Issued: In Abuja at 1:00pm, Monday, 14th February 2022
The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) is issuing this statement following its observation of the FCT Area Council elections into 6 Chairmanship and 62 Councillorship positions, which held on Saturday, 12th February 2022.
General: The election was generally peaceful across the six Area Councils, as voters exercised their civic duty without conflict in the polling units visited by Situation Room field observers.
Logistics and Commencement of Poll: Ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and election materials arrived at an average time of 9:30am in most of the polling units in Abaji, AMAC, Kuje and Kwali. Polls commenced at about 10:00am in the voting locations observed, as a result of the late arrival of officials and materials. However, polls commenced on time in several polling units in Bwari and Gwagwalada Area Councils.
Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS): Despite INEC’s repeated assurances of its readiness to conduct the elections, there was widespread malfunction of the BVAS, particularly endless automatic log out of the operator and challenges in authenticating voters’ fingerprints and detecting faces, which delayed the accreditation and voting process in 48.6% of the polling units observed. This led to agitation among voters in some locations. In some instances where challenges with the BVAS were escalated, the response time was long. Reports from our field observers indicate that it took about four minutes to accredit one voter in 66.2% of the PUs observed. These challenges were more prominent in Abaji, AMAC and Kuje Area Councils.
Priority Voting and PWDs: Situation Room notes that INEC ad-hoc officials in some instances gave priority to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), elderly persons and pregnant women in some of the polling units observed. However, most voting booths were not accessible to some categories of PWDs. Reports from our partner organisations under the TAF Inclusive Elections Observation note that a good number of Polling Officers were not aware of some of the assistive devices such as braille. Our observers note that voting aids for voters with disabilities were not available in 85% of the PUs observed and where they were, the items were not usable. For instance, INEC deployed leaflets instead of standard braille guides to the PUs in the colony of persons with disabilities in Karon-Majigi of Gwarimpa Ward, AMAC as reported by Inclusive Friends Association.
Presence and Conduct of Security Officials: Security agents were present at most of the polling units visited, with at least three in each voting location. Apart from the incident where some security officials were reported to have shot into the air to intervene in skirmishes, security agents were professional in their conduct and generally arrived polling units early before poll officials. Nevertheless, the security agents failed to halt voters’ inducement or make arrest of perpetrators.
Party Agents: Of the 14 political parties contesting, party agents of the All-Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had agents in at least 95% of the polling units observed, while agents of the other political parties were seen in less than 35% of these locations.
Vote Buying: The incidence of vote buying appears to have become a staple in the country’s elections, with the FCT election not being an exception. In some locations, votes were sold for between N1,000 and N2,000 per voter. Apart from the usual cash distribution, voter buying reportedly took the form of digital transfers in some locations.
Voter Turnout: While large crowds were observed in some voting locations, there were other places where none of the registered voters showed up. Generally, voter turnout was very low.
Collation and Result Upload: Although collation of results started several hours after the conclusion of the close of polls, the process appears to have been concluded around noon on Sunday, 13th February, in some locations such as Bwari Area Council Kuje and Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Conclusion: This election like several major and bye-elections to be conducted by INEC in 2022, sets the tone for the 2023 general elections and a litmus test for INEC’s own preparedness to conduct the general elections. Situation Room calls on the Commission to work towards improving its logistics arrangements, ensure effective configuration of accreditation devices and early commencement of polls. The late deployment of materials within the FCT where INEC headquarters is situated is quite perplexing.
Voter awareness of the Area Council Elections was not timely. Many of the residents in the FCT were not aware of the elections until about two weeks to the elections. On election day particularly in the urban areas, voter turnout was very low. This may have been caused by several factors including the conflicting statements on restriction of movement and a lack of interest by the elite. Some residents also noted that they are registered to vote in their respective States and could not transfer to vote in the FCT just for the elections.
Situation Room calls on INEC to carry out extensive voter education to raise awareness on the new polling units created in its Expansion of Access to Polling Units exercise in 2021, as well as the procedure for allotting voters to these new locations. INEC needs to also review the accessibility of polling units with registered voters who are PWDs, and also ensure the deployment of assistive materials to these locations.
Political parties should also actively engage in voter mobilisation to address the trend of diminishing voter turnout. Parties and candidates are the beneficiaries of the votes and are not doing enough to canvass for these votes.
Situation Room enjoins security agencies to continue to build on the gains they have recorded in in election security in recent times by remaining professional in their conducts in upcoming elections. Also, security officials should devise means of actively addressing vote buying during elections.
Situation Room is specifically calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to assent to the electoral bill to raise the standard of elections in Nigeria, improve electoral environment and prevent further excuses or deficiency in the electoral and voting processes.
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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
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The Situation Room is made up of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) working in support of credible and transparent elections in Nigeria numbering more than seventy. The Steering Committee is made up of: Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC), CLEEN Foundation, Action Aid Nigeria, Centre for Women and Adolescent Empowerment, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), African Centre for Entrepreneurship and Information Development (ACEIDEV), Justice Development and Peace Commission (JPDC) Nnewi, ASPILOS Foundation, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), Mac-Jim Foundation, Kimpact Development Initiative, Democratic Action Group (DAG), Women’s Rights to Education Programme, EDO CSOs, Young Innovators and Vocational Training Initiative (YVITI), New Initiative for Social Development (NISD). Other groups are Centre LSD, CISLAC, WARD-C, Proactive Gender Initiative (PGI), Enough is Enough Nigeria, WANGONET, JDPC, YIAGA Africa, Development Dynamics, Partners West Africa Nigeria (PWAN), Stakeholder Democracy Network, Human Rights Monitor, Reclaim Naija, CITAD, Conscience for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution (CHRCR,) Nigerian Women Trust Fund, The Albino Foundation, Alliance for Credible Elections (ACE), Electoral Hub, FENRAD etc
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