By Felix Khanoba
A pro-democracy group, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa), has urged a swift investigation and trial of individuals caught engaging in vote-buying during the just concluded Edo State governorship election.
Speaking during a post-election media briefing in Abuja on Monday, Professor Adele Jinadu, Chairman of CDD-Election Analysis Centre (EAC), commended security agencies for apprehending those involved in vote-buying but stressed the need for immediate prosecution.
“CDD notes the arrest of some people for vote buying and commends the vigilance of security agencies in this regard. CDD-EAC recommends the speedy and thorough investigation and trial of these cases,” he stated.
While calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to do more in the area of transparency in results’ collation following observed lapses in the Edo election, CDD advised the electoral body to liaise with Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) in future elections to mitigate disruptions caused by rainfall.
“”Collation of results is a fundamental aspect of the electoral process, CDD therefore recommends that any controversy and/or loss of confidence in that regard should be resolved transparently and in a timely fashion before proceeding with final declarations.
“This particularly speaks to CDD’s observed inconsistencies in Ovia North East where incidences of blurred results, overvoting and disparity in result upload were reported by our observers.
“Given the challenge posed by the downpour in parts of the state during the election, CDD-EAC recommends that INEC should work closely with NiMET in subsequent elections. This will ensure adequate arrangements for safe guarding paper-based election materials from rain.
“CDD-EAC recommends proper shelters instead of open spaces for the conduct of the process in future.
The centre recommends that the crisis communication apparatus of the electoral commission must be activated in periods of great need to avoid conflict in communication and dangerous public perception it may portend,” Professor Jinadu said.
The group also lamented irregularities observed during the voting process, including instances where some individuals were allowed to vote without Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in a few areas and attempts by political actors to disrupt result collation processes.
“CDD-EAC notes with concern the reported visit to the State Collation Centre by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the disruption of the collation process underway at Ikpoba Okha and Oredo Local Government Areas (LGAs) by some party members,” Jinadu remarked.
He further stressed the need for INEC to improve its crisis communication strategy to avoid confusion and dangerous public perceptions during critical moments of the electoral process.
“CDD-EAC notes that it took a long while after the suspension of the collation process before the reason for the suspension was announced to the public. These issues aggravated the post-election day security situation, such as reported protests in Ikpoba/Okha and Oredo, and the rumours and concerns of vote manipulation that flowed from it,” the group said.
CDD also expressed concerns in some of the results uploaded by INEC where the votes recorded for All Progressives Congress (APC) from some units were higher than the accredited number of voters.
” INEC should carefully review uploads on iRev against the announced results and where there are discrepancies, take necessary remedial actions,” Jinadu said.
CDD, which deployed 70 trained and accredited observers for the election, however, commended INEC for the efficient performance of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines in virtually all the polling units as well the minimal violence recorded during the poll.
On the election outcome, the CDD called on political stakeholders to uphold peace, respect the rule of law, and pursue legal avenues for resolving disputes over the election results.
Recall that INEC had on Sunday declared the candidate of APC, Senator Monday Okpebholo as winner of the Edo governorship election
Okpebholo secured a total of 291,667 votes. His closest rival, Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), garnered 247,655 votes, while Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party (LP), finished third, receiving a total of 22,763 votes.
