Victims of electoral violence await justice after the 2023 general elections.
During the elections, at least 39 people were reported to have died in various parts of the country.
According to reports, during the 2023 general elections, there was violence in states such as Lagos, Abia, Nasarawa, Benue, Akwa Ibom, Osun, and Taraba.
Police officers, politicians, hired thugs, and an unidentified ad hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were among those killed during the elections.
While the Nigeria Police have promised to arrest and prosecute those responsible for election violence, many cases have gone unreported, allowing the perpetrators to go free.
According to the Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), violence was a major factor undermining INEC’s performance during the 2023 general election.
Prof Adele Jinadu, Chairman of the CDD Election Analysis Centre, EAC, stated at a news conference in Abuja that their data showed that violence occurred in 10.8 percent of all polling units, resulting in low voter turnout in the state elections.
“10.8% of observed polling units recorded violence, with the northwest (19.9%) and south-south (11.6%) geopolitical zones with Bayelsa and Zamfara, respectively,” Jinadu said.
Idayat Hassan, Director of CDD, also stated that perpetrators of violence were motivated by a desire to disrupt electoral processes.
“Victims of this violence were voters,” writes Idayat, “some of whom were disenfranchised as a result of having their ballot boxes snatched.”
During the recently concluded elections in Lagos State, some electorates were attacked and threats were issued. Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, the former Lagos State National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, chairman, had threatened Igbos against voting against the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state. Following the outpouring of criticism, MC Oluomo retracted his threat.
Similarly, during the presidential election, Jennifer Efedi was attacked by thugs suspected of being loyal to the APC.
Chisom Lenard, the Director of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Campaign Council in Rivers State’s Ahoada East local government area, was among the five people killed in the last election.
An ad hoc NYSC member was killed in Odual Clan in the Abua/Odual local government area of the state.
During the election, soldiers killed three people suspected of being thugs in the Ogbakiri community of the state’s Emohua Local Government Area.
In Nasarawa State, a man named Yunusa Lolo was killed near the constituency collation centre in the Awe local government area.
During the recently concluded general election in Akwa Ibom, six people were killed.
Their deaths came after rival political parties fought for supremacy over the soul of the state.
The Nigeria Police Force, NPF, said it arrested 781 people for various types of offences during the recently concluded general elections, emphasising electoral violence during the 2023 elections.
Usman Baba, the Inspector General of Police, stated that 203 people were arrested during the presidential and National Assembly elections, while 578 were apprehended during the governorship and state assembly elections.
Approximately 66 firearms of various types were also recovered from political thugs during the period, according to Baba.
The IGP told Commissioners of Police and Assistant Inspector Generals of Police in charge of Zonal Commands that the Police would work with INEC to prosecute all electoral offenders.
“I have directed that all electoral offences case files from all State Commands be submitted to my office, where a committee has been formed to centrally collate and coordinate the processing, prior to the start of the prosecution process,” he said.
Despite the number of incidents of electoral violence across the country, none of the victims have come forward to demand that those responsible be prosecuted, a situation that is thought to reflect a lack of trust in the system.
Speaking about the need for victims to fight for justice, human rights activist Maduabuchi Idam stated that victims have the right to do so.
Idam, a lawyer, bemoaned the fact that those responsible for electoral violence had not been prosecuted because the state had indirectly encouraged them.
