Nigeria Content Online

Contrary to speculations that the
governorship election in Delta State would be marred by violence, the
election was not only peacefully conducted in most parts of the state
yesterday, it witnessed an unprecedented turn out of voters.

Though there were a few reported cases
of ballot box snatching and stuffing in some of the polling units, the
election–which recorded the highest security patrol and policing
throughout the state–saw the electorate conducting themselves in an
orderly manner throughout the duration of the exercise.

Apart from areas in Owvian and the
Delta Steel Company township in Udu local government area where there
were reported cases of delay in the arrival of electoral materials,
INEC personnel and voting materials arrived in most parts of the Warri
metropolis and other neighbouring towns as early as 8.15am.
Accreditation of registered voters commenced immediately as well, with
the corps members used by INEC as ad hoc staff showing more commitment
to their job.

At 8.28am, the electoral officer (EO)
of Warri South Council, Sunday Akpan, said electoral materials arrived
in record time when compared to the previous elections and that the
distribution of these materials and personnel, especially to the creek
and other long distance locations, wasted no time.

According to Mr Akpan, “You can see
that there is a lot of improvement in the way and manner we discharge
our duties. It can only get better as the two previous elections we
have conducted had opened our eyes to some of the lapses on the job and
now we have corrected these lapses and we are now much better in our
task to conduct a hitch-free election.”

A stunning calm

At Effurun, the headquarters of the
Uvwie local government area, which is regarded as the most volatile
council area in the state, the election went on smoothly as residents
came out in large numbers to exercise their civic duty. By 10.30
electoral materials and personnel were seen at the various polling
units accrediting voters.

Ekpan, a major settlement in the
council area known for the violent nature of its community youth as a
result of local rivalry between two opposing camps, was not left out
either, as the area witnessed orderly conduct of the elections amid
tight security. Ekpan recorded the highest incidence of violence in the
April 9 NASS elections.

Residents of the area who were denied
access to their vote due to the mayhem caused by the youth during the
NASS election were happy that they were able to come out freely
yesterday to exercise their right to vote. They said there was no fear
of molestation or harassment by armed youth who were in the habit of
hijacking the electoral process in the area.

Mr Sunday Edebiri, a secondary school
principal, said he was excited that he was able to cast his vote for
the first time in the area. “This is the very first time I will be
allowed to vote since this electoral process started. I’m very happy
and fulfilled today and I hope my vote will count at the end of the
day.”

Uduaghan satisfied

At Abi-Ugborodo in Warri North local
government area, where the state governor Emmanuel Uduaghan hails from,
electoral materials and personnel arrived in Ward 6–which comprises
four units–as early as 8.30am and accreditation followed immediately.
The ward, which had over 3,000 registered voters, witnessed a large
turnout as voters from neighbouring towns and cities mobilised to the
riverside community in a show of solidarity. The governor was
accredited with his wife at about 10.20am and cast his vote at 12.35pm

Speaking with journalists after voting,
the governor expressed satisfaction with the exercise and appreciated
the people for coming out in their large numbers to vote. He commended
the INEC staff for a job well done and noted that the entire exercise
was an improvement over the previous elections held in the state.

He added “This is my third time of coming here to vote since the
electoral process started and you will agree with me that the conduct
here today is lot better. The first one was better and the second was
much better but this is much more better. So you can see the tremendous
improvement in the whole process.”

Ahead of tomorrow’s governorship and
House of Assembly elections in Kaduna State, the state governor,
Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, has cautioned the political elite and
traditional rulers in the state against comments capable of inciting
the already tensed situation caused by the post election violence in
the state.

Speaking through his special adviser on
media, Reuben Buhari, the governor said calls by opposition
governorship candidates in the state for the postponement of tomorrow’s
governorship election or state of emergency is uncalled for, adding
that what they should have done was to go out and canvass for votes.

According to him, this is not the time
to apportion blames or incite the public. Rather, they should be
preaching peace and tolerance and not criticise the curfew and security
arrangements alleged to be imposed on one part alone.

Mr Yakowa declared that the elite are
the ones who are always putting the state in trouble by instigating
innocent people while they remain in the comfort of their homes, noting
that what happened in Kaduna was unfortunate and undesirable.

“All we are interested in is the peaceful and successful conduct of the upcoming governorship election,” the governor added.

He said more security agents would be
deployed to all parts of the state to ensure smooth and peaceful
conduct of the governorship and National Assembly elections, just as he
urged the people not to be scared of coming out to vote.

“The State Security Council and the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will meet and
deliberate to proffer solutions on how to accommodate voters that lost
their voters card during the post election violence.

“Those that think that the only way to
make their grievances through violence should desist from it, as heavy
security would be present at every polling unit and would be stationed
at every collation centre,” he warned.

The House of
Assembly election in Edo State yesterday was held in a mostly peaceful
atmosphere throughout the state, with pockets of mild violence in some
areas which was quickly brought under control by the combined security
agencies, involving the police and soldiers.

There is no governorship election in the state until next year.

Edo Central was the
battle front as the ruling party, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
has vowed to capture some of the seats in the state house of assembly
held by the opposition PDP.

The House of
Representatives election into Akoko-Edo federal constituency was also
held peacefully. In Uneme Nkehua Ward 9, where the ACN House of
Representatives candidate and former national president of the National
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Peter Akpattason,
is from, voting was going on smoothly as of 3 pm.

But in Aiyegunle
Ward 7 where the House of Representatives Majority Leader, Tunde
Akogun, hails from, Mr Akogun alleged that the election was being
rigged in favour of his major opponent, Mr Akpattason. He alleged that
some traditional rulers in the area had engaged town criers to publicly
announce their endorsement of the ACN candidate.

Voters’ turnout was
remarkably high, higher in some areas than last week’s presidential
election. In Benin City, the state capital, voting went on smoothly
without serious challenges. Accreditation started in some areas in
Igarra, Akoko-Edo local government council as early as 8am without any
reported hitches. Each voter was accredited at an average of one minute
per person.

There were no
reported incidents in the five local governments visited in the Edo
North area, where the governor, Adams Oshiomhole, urged the people to
vote and stayed behind to defend them.

Mr Oshiomhole was
accredited at 11.53am at Iyamho Primary School and voted at 12.30pm. He
described the election as peaceful except in some parts of Edo Central
where there were reports of ballot snatching.

In Obe Primary
School, Fugar, where the chief of staff to president Goodluck Jonathan,
Mike Ogiadhome, voted, the turnout in the area was lower than what was
experienced in the last presidential election.

He told journalists
shortly after casting his vote around 1.34pm that he was sure the
election would go the way of the previous ones, which were relatively
peaceful in the area.

ACN in the lead But
in Ebele, Igueben local government council, there was a reported case
of ballot boxes and voters’ registers being stolen by unknown gunmen.

There were also
reported cases of skirmishes in Uromi, also in Edo Central, where the
ACN was accused of being instrumental to the violence and attempted
rigging in the area.

But the state
chairman of the party, Thomas Okosun, denied the allegation, saying
that the party abhors violence and rigging and could not have indulged
in such acts.

Early results from some polling units in Benin City yesterday showed that the ACN candidates were ahead of their PDP opponents.

A mild protest
occurred at Ward 5, Unit 2, Ijemo-Eleja Polling Centre in Abeokuta,
Ogun State. Voters at the unit were not happy with the announcement
from officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
that their register was missing.

The officials had
told the voters that the previous voter register could not be located,
hence, the need to use a new one. The voters insisted on using the old
register. They further said voting will not take place at the unit
unless the old register was produced. It took the intervention of the
police before the situation was brought under control, while the INEC
officials had to be smuggled out of the area by the security agents.

In Odelemo town of
Sagamu Local Government, a party leader and six others were apprehended
for alleged electoral offences. The suspects were said to have stormed
a polling booth, scattering the ballot boxes around in an attempt to
frustrate the exercise. The Ogun Sate Commissioner of Police, Olayinka
Balogun confirmed the incident and subsequent arrest.

Satisfied with conduct of poll

Meanwhile, former
President Olusegun Obasanjo has commended the conduct of the election.
Mr Obasanjo who spoke with journalists in his Ita-Eko voting centre, in
Abeokuta said: “You know in this particular voting unit, the first,
second and the third, it has been peaceful, orderly and of course the
turnout has been more or less in line with average national turnout
throughout the country.” He also spoke about the post-election riot in
the northern part of the country. “We need to educate ourselves and we
need to understand what is happening. There are changes taking place in
Nigeria and those changes have to be internalised by all of us and we
have to adjust to those changes.” The Ogun State governor, Gbenga
Daniel speaking with journalists after casting his vote in Sagamu,
lauded the general high turnout of voters. He however, decried the role
of money in the democratic process saying the practice would not allow
politics of ideas to take root in the country.

“It is time for us
to make the process more credible by ensuring that only people of ideas
who have genuine interest of the people and country at heart are voted
for. Nigerians should not allow moneybags to take over the process.

“In Ogun State
there are three strong parties which have worked very hard and I’m sure
that at the end of the day a winner will emerge. I do not think there
would be a run off. The three parties have enough spread and the party
with the simple majority will win.” Mr Daniel said.

Olusegun Osoba,
former Ogun State governor said: “I am very happy that the presiding
officers came on time today. It has not been happening like that in the
past. They have been there very early today and that has helped to make
the process of accreditation much easier.

“I am quite
satisfied with the process. I discovered that Nigerians are now
determined to ensure that their votes count,” he added.

The governorship election in Imo State was fraught
with diverse electoral malpractices, ranging from ballot box snatching,
ballot stuffing, thuggery, and outright voters disenfranchisement.

The opposition parties in the state have blamed these electoral malfeasance on the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

In Owerri North council area, as at 6.20pm, no
election materials have been brought to over five polling centres in
the Okigwe Road and Orji areas of the council. While there were
security agents at the polling units, there were no INEC officials in
two of the polling units.

In a polling unit in Ihiagwa, Owerri West council
area, voters refused to vote with what they described as ‘fake
electoral materials’ brought in after some individuals, claiming to be
policemen, took away the original materials and brought a different set
after three hours.

At Uzoagba, in Ikeduru council area, electoral
materials in booth 8 were snatched by unidentified hoodlums. Also at
Okwu, Eziama, and Ugirike wards, ballot boxes and all electoral
materials were snatched by unknown gunmen. Amaimo Central School of the
same council erupted in a free-for-all-fight following suspicions of
manipulation.

At Nguru centre in Aboh Mbaise council area, men in
army uniform, wielding military rifles, took away electoral materials
in the area.

In the same Aboh Mbaise, Godfrey Dikeocha, a former
Speaker of the State Assembly and aide to governor Ikedi Ohakim and one
Ogunewe Princewill, a representative at Okeovoro Development Centre,
allegedly stormed polling units with armed thugs, two of whom were
identified as Udochukwu Onyekwere and Ekwueme Nweke. The polling booths
raided are at Umunebie Ndigbu Uvuru.

“As at 6.10pm, there was no voting in the entire Ngor
Okpala council area of Imo State due to issues ranging from the absence
of result sheets to the unavailability of other relevant documents for
the elections,” the chairman of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP),
Vitalis Ajumbe, said.

Snatching ballots

Ballot papers were allegedly taken away from these
polling units and thumb printed for the PDP outside the polling station
by armed thugs hired by some officials of the state government.

There were many casualties, including one Hapuruchi Ejiekpe who was seriously injured and is hospitalised.

Also at Ezinihitte council area of the state,
Chinemerem Madu, the PDP chairman of the area, allegedly invaded
polling booth 004, Ward 1, Amumara, Ezinihitte, with thugs; allegedly
compelling voters to vote PDP and openly sharing money to people.

A retired SSS officer, Joebra Nwachukwu, was reported
to have been nearly assaulted when he challenged them. The police were
called in, but did not intervene in the matter and left in their Imo
Transport Company (ITC) commercial bus, Registration No. XC 846 WER.

Some of the colluding policemen were identified as
Ekene Basil (401435); Chilaka Duru (427155); Paul Sunday (without
number), and others.

It was a theatre of war in Oguta council area, as
sporadic gunshots were heard from different areas, especially the
Izombe community where two of the major contenders for the House of
Assembly seat came from. There was rampant snatching of ballot boxes
and electoral materials at Izombe.

There was also unconfirmed report of an arrest at a
hotel in the state capital, where people were caught thumb printing in
one of the hotel rooms, although the police spokesperson refused to
confirm it.

The Independent
National Electoral Commission said yesterday that its attention is
focused on verifying and authenticating the results of the state
governorship elections.

Opposition parties
who rejected the outcome of the presidential poll cited rigging and
other electoral fraud, criticising the commission’s oversight of result
collation during a protest that turned into riots in Kaduna, Bauchi,
Katsina, Kano, Gombe and Adamawa states.

The parties said,
in many states, their agents were shut off from collation points where
the results were allegedly doctored in favour of the ruling People’s
Democratic Party.

Since the
governorship and state assembly elections concluded yesterday, the
commission said, while results of the elections are expected, it has
placed greater attention on the collation of results in the 24 states
where the elections were held.

“The only thing
which we have done for today’s election differently,” said Solomon
Soyebi, INEC’s national commissioner in charge of information and
publicity, “is that we have shifted our attention more to the collation
centers. We are trying to make sure that whatever is done at the
collation centre is more transparent.”

An imperfect process

Election monitors
have also picked at holes in the commission’s multi-tiered election
collation process, which sends results from polling units to the state
collation centers through the wards and local government area collation
centers.

In its report after
the presidential election, the National Democratic Institute said this
approach created a tendency for “malfeasance and human error.” Speaking
yesterday on behalf of the chairman of the commission, Attahiru Jega,
Mr Soyebi said the electoral body has improved the way it monitors the
processing of results for the governorship polls.

“If there is any
party agent denied access to the collation center, he or she has our
hotline to call and that will be remedied,” he said.

Damage control

The commission also
acknowledged, for the first time, the challenge it faces with a large
number of its ad hoc staff – the corps members – withdrawing their
services in Kaduna and Bauchi where elections were moved to Thursday
due to the large-scale violence that hit the two states.

Mr Soyebi said that
while the fear about personnel shortage may not be so real in Kaduna
state, the situation in Bauchi was serious enough that the commission
planned to deploy its permanent staff for the exercise.

He said full-time staff in Bauchi and neighboring states and the
headquarters, as well as other trained ad hoc staff, are to be drafted
for the election if the youth corps members stay away on Thursday.

Five people were
arrested by the police in Masaka and Maraba area of Nasarawa State in a
vehicle with thumbprinted ballot papers.

A woman called
Godiya Sunday was also arrested in Akwanga with a thumb-printed ballot
paper. 252 ballot papers were for state house of assembly, 406 were for
governorship, and 140 were for the Labour Party repectively.

Briefing
journalists at the Independent Electoral Commission headquarters in
Lafia, the state police commissioner, Emmanuel Obiko, said the suspects
were arrested at about 10:30am by his men who were stationed at a check
point mounted to restrict movement of people.

He said the matter
is still under investigation and that nobody would be charged to court
until the police concludes its findings.

“If anybody is found guilty, that person would be charged to court for prosecution,” Mr Obiko said.

Although the whole exercise in parts of the state was peaceful and orderly, the scenario in some areas was entirely different.

There was a case of
ballot snatching by four men suspected to be PDP members in Angwan
Mangu polling unit in Ciroma ward of Lafia. Although 1289 were
registered in the unit, only 421 were accredited according to the
presiding officer, Friday Dirikumo. The arrival of security agents at
the polling unit prevented the situation from degenerating into crisis.

There was low
turnout of voters across the state. Some of the electorate blamed their
apathy on the post election violence that took place across the nation.
This made some of them to relocate from where they were staying to
their villages.

“We have been disfranchised during the last presidential election,” a resident says.

An INEC official,
Amina Zekeri, however, said the commission could not say there is low
turnout until the exercise comes to an end.

Also reacting to
the low turnout, the Senate elect for Nasarawa south, Suleiman Adokwe,
said this could be as a result of the bomb blast in the previous
elections across the country.

Fears over the
violence that followed the presidential elections led to a record low
turnout in most parts of the country during yesterday’s polls. The
gubernatorial/house of assembly elections, which formed the last in the
series of national elections that began April 9, ended in most states
on a peaceful note, but turnout was quite dismal. Although the
pervasive apathy was more notable in the northern states where youth
went on a rampage after the April 16 elections, even states where there
were no riots saw more voters staying home. The violence that
accompanied yesterday’s elections was minimal. A bomb blast in
Maiduguri, the third in the area since elections began, mercifully left
no casualties. Another exploded in Ogbe-Ijo, Delta state, injuring no
one, while police successfully defused another one in the same area.

A wary north

In Kano State, the
fear of violence saw middle-aged and elderly voters abandoning their
polling units and the youth were mainly the ones to be seen around.
Areas like Kawaji Jigirya ward, Fagge A and B Brigade, which had
recorded unusually high voter participation in the two previous
elections, saw low voter turnout for the gubernatorial elections. Kano
State governor and ANPP presidential candidate, Ibrahim Shekarau, who
voted at his Giginya ward, blamed the recent crisis.

“The low turnout
may not be totally disconnected from last week’s crisis that has
affected the turnout of women and the aged. But the security agents are
doing everything possible to ensure the peaceful conduct of the
election,” he said.

Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, who was the People’s Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state, agreed.

“We have been
receiving reports of low turnout probably because people are scared
because of last week’s violent protest,” he said.

In Adamawa,
Nasarawa and Katsina states, the story was the same. In Katsina, a
presiding officer at polling unit 13, Modoji Primary School, said that
of the unit’s 831 registered voters, only 384 were accredited and even
less came out to vote. He also said that the majority of youth corps
members who officiated the earlier polls shunned yesterday’s exercise.
The spokesperson for INEC in the state, Mohammed Musa, said turnout was
very low, “but the reason, I don’t know why”. In Lagos State, turnout
was so low in some areas that officials had to go door to door to urge
people to come out to vote.

Sore spots

In many states,
however, the elections were peaceful. Ondo state governor, Segun
Mimiko, who cast his vote with his wife, Olukemi, at unit 020 Lodosa,
said: “This shows that beyond permutation, speculations, we have a
reasonably satisfactory process.”

Still, there were a
few issues. In Oyo State, the senator representing Oyo South,
Kamorudeen Adedibu, was among 54 people arrested in the state for
various offences. Security operatives in Ondo State arrested 120 people
during the house of assembly elections there. The arrests were mostly
for disobeying the movement restriction order. However, at Akpala
polling unit, Uparama ward, hoodlums snatched a ballot box and shot
into the air. Calm was restored when Naval officers from Forward Base
recovered the box and arrested two of the miscreants.

In Nasarawa, five
people were caught with thumbprinted ballot papers — 252 of which were
for the state assembly elections while 406 ballot papers were for the
governorship election. The state’s electoral commissioner, Emmanuel
Obiko, said the suspects were arrested by his officers at about 10.30pm
and would be prosecuted soon. A corps member who served as presiding
officer in Obokun Local Council in Osun state was also arrested for
being found in possession of 50 thumbprinted ballot papers.

Violence is idiotic

A former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar, however condemned the recent violence.

“From what I have
seen, the turnout is less than what I saw in the previous elections,”
he said. “I believe people are very apprehensive and don’t want to be
caught up in any violence.”

Mr Abubakar who voted with his wife, Fati, along with former head of
state, Ibrahim Babangida and his family, said the violence following
the presidential election, “is the most idiotic thing to happen”.