The European Union has slammed the Independent National Electoral Commission for failing to live up to expectations in the election process in Nigeria.
The Chief Observer of, EU Election Observation Mission, Barry Andrews, in his preliminary statement of the EU EOM on the governorship and Houses of Assembly elections on Monday said Nigerians hungered for democracy and were ready to be involved in the country’s democracy but the appetite was lost due to failures by political elites and INEC.
Andrews stated, “Throughout the tour, we witnessed that Nigerians have a strong desire for democracy and are willing to participate in different civic activities. Yet, in many regions of the nation, their expectations were not satisfied. Many were dissatisfied and we observed voter indifference that is in part an obvious result of failures by political elites and, sadly, also by INEC.
“Public confidence and faith in INEC were seriously eroded on 25 February owing to lack of transparency and operational shortcomings in the conduct of the federal level elections. Up to the delay, INEC continued to refrain from sharing information, restricting its communication to a few press releases and ceremonial pronouncements and thereby failing to address public issues and reestablish trust in the voting process.
“Positively, INEC implemented several remedial steps ahead of Saturday’s votes, permitting a prompt distribution of sensitive materials and enhanced use of electoral technology, however, the institution remained to lack transparency.”
Andrew reported the 18 March elections did not experience the same challenges with the usage of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System as on 25 February.
He, however, stated that despite these enormous gains, “Polling on election day was interrupted by many acts of thuggery and intimidation of voters, polling officials, observers, and journalists.”
According to him, Lagos, Kano, and other states in the southern and central sections of the nation were the most hit.
“Unfortunately, there were numerous wounded and deaths. Vote-buying, also explicitly seen by EU EOM monitors, greatly detracted from the proper conduct of the elections,” he continued.
