The Nigeria Election Situation Room notes with dismay the bomb blast at the INEC office in Suleja which killed a number of people who have offered their services to the nation at this critical time. We take this opportunity to sympathize with their families and friends for this tragic waste of life.
Although the perpetrators of this heinous act are yet to be identified, it seems obvious that there are those who are unhappy about the determination of INEC – along with the vast majority of Nigerian citizens – to ensure that these elections are free and fair, and in the process make a clean break with the past. Fifty years after independence would seem to represent a watershed. For once in our relatively short time as a nation, we remain hopeful that the true wishes of the Nigerian people will at last be upheld.
Given the historic nature of the exercise we are about to embark on, we would urge all prospective voters to refuse to be intimidated by the prospect of violence unleashed by those who do not wish the nation well. We are especially concerned that a number of interested parties are unhappy with INEC’s insistence on keeping the accreditation and voting exercises separate in order to minimize the possibility of rigging, just as they are equally unhappy with Professor Jega’s insistence that voters should stay back after exercising their right to ensure that nothing untoward happens at their particular polling units.
For these reasons, we would urge all well-meaning Nigerians to be especially vigilant. Any person or group of persons acting in a suspicious manner should be reported at once to the security forces, who themselves should take this latest incident as a wake-up call, and indeed a failure on their part to provide needed security for election officials. Securing lives and property is a fundamental duty of government. We cannot allow future of our country to be truncated by a few misguided elements.
For: Elections Situation Room
Dr Jibrin Ibrahim
Executive Director
Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD)
Tel: 0803 4001200
Clement Nwankwo
Executive Director
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre(PLAC)
Tel: 0803 8899999
2011 ELECTION SITUATION ROOM MEMBERS.
Action Aid Nigeria
Alliance for Credible Election (ACE)
Centre for Democracy and Development
Centre for Democratic Development Research and Training
African Centre for Leadership Strategy and Development (Centre LSD)
CLEEN Foundation
Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)
Community Emergency Response Initiative (CERI)
Community Life Project (CLP)
Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI)
Enough is Enough
Forward Africa
Human Development and Care Centre
Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
JDP/Caritas Nigeria
Next Generation Youth Initiative
Niger Delta Budget Monitoring Group
Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre
Transition Monitoring Group (TMG)
Women Environment Programme