By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Foreign observers, who monitored the just concluded governorship and state Assembly elections, have rated the exercise “poor” due to widespread cases of violence, killings and voter apathy that combined to mar the contest in some Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom state.
The observers, who were drawn from South Africa and other countries, described the polls as far from being free, fair and peaceful.
The Pan African Women Project (PAWP), at a press conference on Tuesday in Uyo, the state capital, frowned at cases of violence leading to the disruption of the exercise and killing of two persons in Ibiono Ibom LGA.
Spokesperson of the group, Ms Can Dice Solomon, from South Africa, noted that absence of security personnel, poor deployment of logistics and emergency training of the Ad-hoc personnel, gave rise to the observed irregularities that dogged the contest in most parts of the state.
Although observers gave the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) a pass mark, they noted that what happened in Nigeria has some positive and negative multiplier effects in the West Africa and the continental by extension, Ms Solomon, stressed the need for lessons learnt from the concluded exercise to be effectively utilized in future polls.
She said: “There were serious vote buying and influencing of voters’ choice by party members at some of the polling units. They coarsively caused people to vote for their parties at the voting booths across party lines.
“In Ward 10, unit 1, in Ikono LGA, no presence of any security personnel. In Ward 1, unit 8, Village Square in Ikot Essien, Oruk Anam LGA, no security, and also in Ward 6, unit 4 in Etim Ekpo LGA, which led to fighting and heavy invasion of thugs. These and many polling units we observed had no security personnel on duty.
“Pockets of violence and intimidation were observed across the three Senatorial Districts across party lines. In Ibiono Ibom LGA, our observers in the field reported to our situation room, that two persons were shot dead early hours of Saturday at the Registration Area Centre (RAC) early hours of Saturday.”
The group, therefore advised the Commission to pay greater attention to these infractions, especially in the areas of logistics, security and proper training of emergency personnel hired for the polling job in order to ensure a hitch-free and acceptable outcome.
