International Human Rights Advocacy And Awareness Centre Observers 2023 Nigeria's Presidential Election Reports
Introduction:
The 2023 election, in preparation, has the highest number of voting card collections in Nigeria's history and the lowest in terms of voter turnout. More than 90 million Nigerians registered for the Permanent Voting Card (PVC) while more than 80 million registered voters collected their PVC. However, less than 25 million cast their votes, making this election the lowest in terms of voter turnout ever, compared to the 1999 election where 29 million Nigerians cast their votes. In 2003, 39 million Nigerians, constituting 69% of the registered voters cast their votes. In 2007, more than 35 million Nigerians voted. In the year 2011, and 2015, 38 million, and 28 million respectively cast their votes. In 2019, out of the 84 million Nigerians that registered, 27 million cast their votes. Many scholars have adduced the problem of low turnout to many factors among which include, the absence of massive rigging, failure of the Bimodal Votting Accreditation System (BVAS), lack of the presence of adequate security officers, electoral violence, intimidations, and perceived threats among dominant party loyalists to mention but a few. Be as it may, the election to a greater extent was described as free and fair.
The International Human Rights Movement Observers Teams (IHRM-OT), Nigeria chapter take a journey into the electoral exercises across some selected states in Nigeria to ascertain and checkmate if INEC officials strictly follow all the promises made to get a befitting, free and fair election. The exercise was guided and conducted through a design checklist by the IHRM-OT similar to underlines activities by INEC. At the end also are pictorial shreds of evidence from some states that were taken by the IHRM-OT to confirm the originality of some of the electoral activities from the sample states.
The checklist contains 23 items (questions) and includes:
⦁ The Number of Registered Voters
⦁ Number of Police Personnel
⦁ The number of Military Personnel
⦁ Number of INEC officers
⦁ The number of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDCs)
⦁ The number of State Security Services (SSS)
⦁ Was Party Agent Within a Few Meters of PUs Canvassing for a Vote?
⦁ The number of Party Agents Present
⦁ Number of International Observers Present
⦁ Were Ballot Papers Counted During Set-Up?
⦁ Did Polling Officials Explain the Voting Procedure on Arrival?
⦁ What Time Did the Voting Materials Arrive?
⦁ What Time Did Accreditation Start?
⦁ Was The Polling Unit Orderly?
⦁ Were Ballot Boxes Shown to Be Empty and Sealed?
⦁ Was Accreditation/Voting Behaviour Disrupted at Any Time?
⦁ Were Voters Intimidated?
⦁ Were all People with Voter Cards Accredited?
⦁ Were Accreditation And Voting Conducted In An Orderly Manner?
⦁ Were Polling Officials Intimidated?
⦁ Were Underaged Persons Allowed to Vote?
⦁ Were the Polling Units Free from Campaign Activities?
⦁ Did Polling Officials Interfere with The Voting Process?
Therefore, the report here represents all the electoral activities that transpired during the just concluded presidential election in these states. The states visited include the following:
⦁ Abia State
⦁ Adamawa State
⦁ Akwa Ibom State
⦁ Anambra State
⦁ Bauchi State
⦁ Bayelsa State
⦁ Benue State
⦁ Borno State
⦁ Cross Rivers State
⦁ Delta State
⦁ Sokoto State
⦁ Plateau State
⦁ Yobe state
⦁ Gombe state
⦁ Kaduna State
⦁ Katsina state
⦁ Zamfara state
⦁ Kebbi state
⦁ Kano state
⦁ Jigawa state
⦁ Lagos state
⦁ Ekiti state
⦁ Oyo state
⦁ Osun state
⦁ Taraba state
⦁ Niger state
⦁ Abuja
The Number of Police Personnel:
From the observer’s report, over 400 hundred voters which constituted 44% found to have been registered in most polling units across the country. It was also discovered that some polling units (PUs) have on their list 200 and 300 registered voters and this constituted 20% and 22% respectively. Only a few Pus across the country have registered voters a little above 100 which constituted 13% of the entire PUs sample for the exercise.
The Number of Registered Voters:
One of the things that mar the election so far is the lack of police personnel or shortage of police personnel across all boards. For instance, in Sokoto state, we found many PUs that have around 900 registered voters having just a single police officer while they are some PUs with 400 to 500 registered voters but don’t have a single police officer around. This act contributed to the electoral violence recorded in many PUs of the state. However, from a general perspective, and based on the observer’s result, most of the PUs across the country got one police officer and that constitutes 51%. PUs with two police officers constitutes 33% while those with three and four constitute 8% each.
How Many Military Personnel?
From observers’ reports across the country, most of the PUs don’t have even a single military personnel and this constitutes 66%. It was also revealed that 13% of the PUs nationwide had two military men at present while 12% of all the PUs had just one military personnel and few PUs which constituted 2% and 3% had 2 and 3 military personnel respectively.
The Number of INEC officers:
The report received across the sample states indicated that there were a minimum of 4 INEC staff on the ground, constituting 63% in most of the PUs. It was also discovered that 26% of most of the PUs had 3 INEC staff on the ground while states with one and two INEC staff across the board constitute 1% and 2% respectively. In Sokoto state and Cross Rivers for instance, most of the PUs have a minimum of four INEC staff on the ground, while just a few, and a very insignificant number had 2-3 INEC officers on the ground. States like Bayelsa and Delta were reported to have cases where only 2-3 INEC officials were sent to PUs.
How Many Nigeria Security and Civil Defiance Corps (NSCDCs)?
Many observed PUs across all the sample states lack the presence of NSCDC officers and this constituted 41% while PUs with just a single NSCDC officer constituted 40% of the entire registered voters. Some PUs that had 2 to 3 NSCDC officers made up 13% and 2% respectively.
How Many State Security Services (SSS):
The majority of the PUs constituting 39% across all sample states did not have a single SSS at present. 24% of the PUs had 1 SSS on the ground while those with 3-4 SSS on the ground constitute 7% and 9% respectively.
Other Security Outfit
It is important to state here categorically that the majority of the PUs in the sample areas made use of other security officers to complement the shortage of security men. These other security officers include Prison Services, immigration, and vehicle inspection officer (V. I. O), etc. 53% of PUs make use of 1 other security officer, 26% of PUs from all sample states make use of 2 other security personnel. 12% of these PUs used 3 other security personnel and 9% made use of 4 and above other security men.
Were Party Agents Within a Few Meters of PUs Canvassing For a Vote?
The Number of Party Agents Present?
The Number of International Observers Present?
In most PUs from sample states, the majority constituting 49% had one international observer. It was also reported that some states constituting 27% had two international observers at PUs while a few states representing 8% had three observers at PUs and here there was no presence of a single observer constituting 16%.
Were Ballot Papers Counted During Set-Up:
Did Polling Officials Explain the Voting Procedure on Arrival?
What Time Did the Voting Materials Arrive?
From the observed report, 55% of the PUs got their voting materials around 8 am-9 am. It was also discovered that some PUs, constituting 31% got theirs around 7 am to 8 am while few PUs constituting just 13% got their voting materials as early as 6 am-7 am.
What Time Did Accreditation Start?
From the observer’s report from across the sample states constituting 79%, accreditation commenced precisely from 8 am-9 am. Others constituting 19% started the accreditation exactly by 7 am-8 am and a few PUs constituting 2% commenced the accreditation exercise as early as 6 am-7 am. Experiences from states like Sokoto, Borno, and cross rivers show that the majority of the PUs did not commence accreditation until 9 am and above
Was The Polling Unit Orderly?
The reports show that many of the PUs from sample states constituting 98% conducted and cast their vote in an orderly manner, while just a few states constituting 2% did cast their votes in an improper and disorderly manner.
Were Ballot Boxes Shown to Be Empty and Sealed?
From the field report so far, only a few PUs from sample states constituting 4% have raised concern that ballot boxes seem not to be empty and sealed as expected while 96% of the PUs attested to the fact that ballot boxes arrived at the PU centre empty and sealed.
Was Accreditation/Voting Process Disrupted at Any Time?
What Time Did The Vote Start?
Results from sample states constituting 84% show that voting began from 8 am-9 am morning. It also indicated that some PUs constituting 13% commenced voting exercise around 7 am-8 am while a few PUs constituting just 3% started their voting exercise as early as 6 am-7 am.
Were Voters Intimidated?
Were All People with Voter Cards Accredited?
As indicated from observers’ reports from sample states, only 8% of the voters did not get accreditation due to the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditations System (BVAS). However, 92% of the states recorded a successful accreditation of voters in most PUs
Were Accreditation And Voting Conducted In An Orderly Manner?
As indicated from the observer’s report, only 2% of the PUs from the sample states experienced disorder during the accreditation and voting exercises. The majority of the PUs constituting 98% conducted the accreditation and voting exercise in an orderly manner.
Were Polling Officials Intimidated?
From the report, Polling officials in some states constituting 8% experienced intimidation while the majority of Polling officials constituting 92% did not record a single report of threat or intimidation
Were Underaged Persons Allowed To Vote?
Just 4% of PUs from sample states record underaged voting while 96% within the age of 18 and above were seen casting votes in most of the PUs across the board
Were The Polling Units Free From Campaign Activities?
The majority of the sample states constituting 87% indicated that campaign activities ended as instructed by the INEC and therefore no campaign activities were noticed taking place from many PUs while a few PUs constituting 13% show instances where some parties loyalist were cited campaigning for their various party from afar
Did Polling Officials Interfere With The Voting Process?
From the report of observed states, 17% of the Polling officials interfere with the voting process. Like in cross rivers, some polling officials went to the extent of infiltrating the result of the polling units. As it is, the majority of the states constituting 83% shows that there is no interference in the voting process by the polling officials
The Pictorial Evidence
Visitation by IHRAAC to INEC Boss During Preparation for Presidential election. Sokoto Chapter
Observations
- Active and more participation of youths and women
- Though there has been impressive turn out during presidential and National Assembly elections but very low compare to 2015 and 2019 elections
- The creation of new centers has made it easy for people to exercise their civic rights by casting their votes
- The new redesign naira policy has help in the reduction of vote buying as people were allowed to vote the candidate of their choice
- BVAS has made the process very fast and easy
- No election violence recorded particularly in the north east
- Security opertaives do not interfare with the election process
- Thuggery and box snatching minimal
- Election was able to be conducted in the areas affected by insecurity successfully as was thought would not be conducted
- Use of NYSC adhoc staff has worked well
CHALLENGES
- Late arrivals of INEC officials and election materials during the presidential and National Assembly election but has improved tremendously during governoship and state assembly elections
- BVAS some times fail to recognized tumb print for some electorates
- Some adhoc staff were found not familiar with the election process due to lack of enough time for training
- People were transported/relocated to other centers to cast their vote because of insecurity, Yobe state in particular
- Thuggery and box snatching occurred in some states which hiders electorate to exercise their civiv rights to cast their votes
RECOMMENDATIONS
- INEC should improve on logistics in order to deploy the staff and electoral materials in time, in order not to keep voters waiting for a long period of time.
- More Polling units should be created in order to reduce the numbe of voters above 600 in a particular Polling Units.
- INEC to improve on the BVAS training to adhoc staff
- More security in the areas experienced thuggery and box snatching
- There is need for consideration for people living with diaability by creating a special access for them in order to cast their vote easily
- INEC need to make good preparation for the distribution of election materials like what has been observed during governorship and state assembly election
- Generally, INEC has performed wonderfully, there is need to sustain the tempo
The election held on 25th February, 2023, was transparent, credible because all the irregularities recorded in Nigeria’s past elections have been reduced to the possible minimum. We recommend Nigerian Electoral Body to enlighten Nigerians that its failure to be able to utilize the technology i.e. BVAS accordingly, was not intentional but operational. We hope the mistake can be corrected ahead of the governorship and state assembly elections. We call all Nigerians to hope for unity.
Sincerely
+2348030638288,08160635099
Sullubankejo2003@gmail.com, sullubawa2003@yahoo.com