Nigeria Content Online

Underage voters
came out in full force in Katsina for the second week running. With no
one willing to take the responsibility of dissuading them, many of them
proudly brandished what appeared to be legitimate voter cards.

Umar Bala, who
looked no older than 10, showed off his voting card which declared him
18 years of age and thus eligible to vote. At Sandamu Mati Adult
Education Centre polling unit in Sandamu Local Government in Katsina
State where Master Bala displayed his card, a police sergeant, Tasiu
Ali, upon seeing the press hurriedly got another small child waiting to
be accredited to put his voter’s card in his pocket and leave the area.
All this happened in full view of officials of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, including Friday Ahuazoribe, a National Youth
Service Corps member and INEC’s presiding officer in the area. But
while Mr. Ali, brandishing a tear gas canister, denied aiding and
abetting election criminality, Mr. Ahuazoribe who had initially
declared there were no irregularities at his centre before NEXT
observed the name and picture of a minor included in the voter’s
register before him, confessed the inclusion of minors in the list. He,
however, said he refused to accredit them.

“There are only two
children in the list but when they came, I asked them to go and call
their village chief and that they should bring their birth certificate
to prove they are 18 years. I did not accredit them,” Mr. Ahuazoribe
said. A similar situation was observed at other polling units in the
state. At Yadangammu Bakinrijiya, Gabriel Onoleke, the INEC presiding
officer, also an NYSC member, said, “We’ve had more than 10 (underage
children), and we are still expecting more of them.”

Missing voters

Another widespread
problem was that numerous voters in centres across the state had their
names omitted in the voter’s register. While Mr. Onoleke said he had
discovered two people’s names missing in his unit, Uchenna Nwafor, also
an NYSC member and INEC’s presiding officer in Mallamawa Low Cost
polling unit in Daura Local Government, said at least 110 people did
not have their names on his list.

“There are about
547 people registered here. But as they came for accreditation, we
discovered their names are not in the register. What we are doing is to
compile their names and submit them to INEC for necessary action to be
taken,” Mr. Nwafor said.

Mixed turnout

Assessing the
turnout of voters for the day’s exercise, Mr. Nwafor said it was less
impressive compared to last week’s elections which INEC botched due to
the inadequate supply of election material across the country. However,
there was a noticeable difference at other polling areas in Doka and
other locations in Mashi Local Government Area where crowds, with women
in several places outnumbering the men, queued to cast their votes.

“I am impressed with the determination of the people who came out to
get accredited and to vote,” said Mohammed Buhari, the presidential
flagbearer of the Congress for Progressive Change, after casting his
vote at Kofar Baru polling unit in Sarkin Yara Ward A in Daura Local
Government Area, his hometown. On the discovery of underage voters, the
former head of state blamed INEC officials for their insincerity in
conducting the elections stating: “INEC officials should do their job
as covered by the Electoral Act. Where they find illegal voter’s cards,
they should destroy those cards in front of all observers, the
political parties, the police and everyone.”

The rise in the
cases of election violence in the country is generating concern among
the electorate. It is worrisome considering the fact that it is of a
national dimension. Hundreds of cars were recently burnt in Akwa-Ibom
and many lives were lost. The long-running crisis in Plateau State has
also become political and has in several ways become tied to the
ongoing election.

Amnesty International, a human rights organisation, recently warned of a rise in violence as election draws near.

“The Nigerian
authorities and the Independent National Electoral Commission must
prevent a repeat of the political violence that characterised the 2007
and 2003 elections,” the agency said. “In the run-up to the elections,
the country has seen an increase in violence. Several hundred people
have been killed in politically-motivated, communal and sectarian
violence in the past six months.” Most of the violence are linked to
local elections, especially in places where state governors are facing
strong opposition challenges.

Violence prone areas

The National
Emergency Management Agency recently announced a list of 12 violence
prone states across the country. The states are: Oyo and Ogun
(South-West); Katsina and Kano (North-West); Bayelsa and Akwa-Ibom
(South-South); Nasarawa and Benue (North-Central); Borno and Gombe
(North-East); and Ebonyi and Anambra (South-East).

The agency’s
spokesperson, Yushau Shuaibu, said the states had “attracted more
headlines and public attention to acrimonious activities among the
political actors and parties,” and should therefore be given more
attention.

Recently, the 36
state governors in the country met to discuss the security challenges
in the country. Though it was attended by only a few governors, they
condemned the violence and charged security officials to stamp this
down.

Kwara State
governor and Chairman of Nigeria Governor Forum (NGF), Bukola Saraki,
told journalists at the end of the deliberation that the importance of
security cannot be over-emphasized in any successful poll.

“We are concerned
about the security, election guidelines and procedures,” he said. “But
by and large, as governors, we are all committed to our position that
we want to win gallantly or lose gallantly. We are ready to accept
results of the elections, just as we preach issue of no violence in
this election. We are committed to our pledge to ensure transparent and
credible polls at our respective states and to let our supporters know
this in the interest of our great country.” Nigerian president,
Goodluck Jonathan has also made calls for peaceful polls in his
campaigns.

Little enforcement

However, experts say unless people are sanctioned for perpetrating violence, there might be no incentive to stop the practice.

Abiodun Ogundeji, a
security analyst and university lecturer, said a government that finds
it difficult to punish certain class of individuals for offences will
also find it hard to ensure a safe environment.

“The only thing I
have heard is what they will do, which they have not done and may never
do,” he said. “If a father cannot bring the son to justice for doing
what is wrong, then what do you expect from friends that share loots? I
am only afraid that the fear of violence may scare Nigerians from going
out to vote” The Executive Director of Centre for Peace Building and
Socio-Economic Resources Development, Ayokunle Fagbemi, said some
10,000 people had died in Nigeria since the return of democratic rule
in 1999. Mr Fagbemi described the casualty figure as alarming.

“From the savannah
regions of the Northern Nigeria to the oil-rich creeks of the Niger
Delta in the South, Nigeria’s electoral process within the past 13
years has been submerged in violence so much as to make mockery of the
democratisation process,” he said.

A Presidential
Committee was recently established on security and civic
responsibilities. Chairman of the Committee and Secretary-General of
the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Lateef Adegbite, also warned
that as the nation approaches the 2011 elections, death threats,
assassination and thuggery have become the order of the day.

“These acts of
violence clearly and adversely affect the image of our nation and also
undermine its corporate existence as well as the consolidation of our
emergent democracy;” he said.

But the leadership of security agencies have promised to frustrate
plans for violence before and after the ongoing elections. “Politics is
not a do-or-die affair. Politics should be played according to the
rules and regulations guiding such activities. Politicians should
always learn how to tolerate oppositions,” the commissioner in charge
of the police anti-bomb unit, Ambrose Aisabor, said.

Murtala Nyako has
warned President Goodluck Jonathan to be wary of some Abuja-based
politicians. Mr Nyako, a former opponent turned staunch supporter of
Mr. Jonathan’s presidential ambition, said when he delivers his state
to the PDP, the credit will not be that of politicians staying in
Abuja. His spokesperson, Aminu Iyawa explained the position of the
governor. Excerpts:

Conning the president

These Abuja-based
politicians normally do not go round to canvass for votes for the
president or anybody. What they do is that they just try to get the
attention of the president to get whatever they can get. Most of them
are just 419 politicians. They go and tell Jonathan that they will
deliver Adamawa to him. But the fact of the matter is that these people
have no influence in Adamawa politics. They always want to associate
with the winning party but they do not work for the winning party. You
only see them when they smell victory, its only then that they will
come and congratulate the winner. But the fact of the matter is that
they are not with Jonathan, neither are they with Nyako nor the people
of the state. Mark you, Nyako will deliver Adamawa State to president
Goodluck Jonathan. If you have been on this campaign trail, you would
have seen the massive turn-out indicating his popularity.

Why Jonathan got Adamawa support

No any other
candidate will get that kind of reception from the people of Adamawa
State. For anybody to say that there’s a party that can beat the PDP in
Adamawa State, well it is democracy. It is normal for anybody in the
opposition to blow his trumpet his own way and to claim that their
party is the best, that PDP will be defeated. But we all know all that
is sheer wishful thinking. Adamawa State is a PDP state. Government is
now responsive in the state. Roads that were not motorable, the
governor has reconstructed and provided more access roads to villages
and towns in the state. The Adamawa people are with their governor
because he has been working tirelessly for them.

Buba Marwa and CPC challenge

Marwa is not a
politician. All these noise and hype about Marwa, anybody can make the
same noise. It’s a matter of printing posters and going to newspaper
houses and broadcast stations to make some noise. Even though
politicians are not born but made, Marwa would never make a good
politician, especially here in Adamawa State. If you are a good
politician, you will not have to stick to your party. It is never done
like that. Jubril Aminu covets being a senator for life, but the people
of Adamawa decided otherwise. The so-called opposition can do whatever
they like, but the Adamawa electorate knows what kind of politicians
they want.

Government decision to start repaying WAEC fees

It is not a
reversal. What is happening is that some candidates who do not have
anything to offer to the people, think they can cash in on the WAEC
thing and get some votes. Unfortunately, the parents know the stand of
the government. What the government agreed to do is to stop payment
while we urge parents to pay for their children or wards. Then after
the results of the children are released, they can bring along the
result for us to ascertain and then we re-fund the parents whether the
child passes or not. What has been happening is that before governor
Nyako came to office, some people in the state ministry of education
have been inflating the figure of the number of candidates that are
sitting for WAEC. They use ghost candidates in order to get money out
of government.

Because of such
sharp practices, the government stopped accepting the names of
candidates given to it by the ministry. But that stoppage was temporary
to enable government determine the exact number of candidates and to
avoid paying for ghost candidates. The government was paying over N300m
as WAEC fees, the amount has reduced by over N200m. This confirms that
over half the candidates are ghost candidates and the money used to
line the pockets of officials in the system. It is even in the interest
of the parents and the state that the money the government is now
saving, would be used for other developmental projects instead of it
going into the pocket of a few government official in the ministry.

Working for the state

Nobody, not even
the federal government has been thinking and putting in place a plan
for the development of its people more than the Adamawa State
government. Since Nyako came into office, it is part of the plan that
our youth should be empowered. Since government cannot provide gainful
employment for everyone, what it can do is to empower its people so
that the creative energies of the youths are harnessed.

This has been the
approach since coming into office. And since Adamawa is an agrarian
state, government has been encouraging the youth to get into
agriculture as a way out of poverty. To do that, government has
established 21 farm skills acquisition centres in the state were they
are equipped with modern farming techniques.

Not only that, the
government also established three technical vocational training centres
in each of the senatorial district to train the youth on technical and
other mechanical skills.

The governor, Nyako
has been encouraging some of the other governors to participate in the
construction of a rail line that would link Adamawa, Taraba, Benue,
Akwa Ibom to Cross River State. This is because it would be easier if
we can have our goods transported from here to Calabar port and it
would be cheaper.

He has also undertaken to address the power challenge faced in state
by its planned evacuation of power from Lagdo dam in Cameroon and the
conversion of Kiri dam into a hydro-electricity generating dam to
provide power. He is somebody that has giving his time to improve
Adamawa and the lot of its people.

Aminu Mojid, 26,
sat on his bed at the dilapidated Suleja general hospital, dazed from
the bomb blast that put him there. He kept asking me to repeat myself.

“I am sorry, I
used to hear better,” he said. His ear drums were hurt in the blast
that ripped off part of the office of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) where he had gone to check his name on the
list of those scheduled to participate in the National Assembly polls.

Victims in pains

Around him, other
corps members wailed in agony as the medical staff struggled to prepare
them for the ambulance journey to Abuja where they could get better
treatment – if they get there alive. There had already been too much
delay. Blood from ripped flesh and bones flow ceaselessly from wounds
that defied the doctors valiant efforts; efforts that were bound to
fail because of the poor state of the hospital. Mr Mojid looked at
them, his colleagues, and sighed, “I am lucky,” he said. “I can talk, I
can walk. I just saw somebody died right here.” Actually, by 9.30pm
shortly before I met Mr Mojid, I had met the harassed compound nurse,
Martins Dawo who told me that 10 people had already died. She said 39
people were rushed there immediately after the blast, more than the
hospital could cope with, more than the hospital had ever seen. The
injuries were horrendous, her gloves were all covered with blood, as
were her shoes and she knew that more will die if they were not moved
immediately: but there were only a few ambulances available.

“How could they do
this to us?” Mr Mojid asked me. “We are just corpers trying to assist
in the elections.” I tried to say that they were the innocent victims
of a horrible crime but he disagreed. “No sir. We are the target. They
planted the bomb at the place where corpers were checking their names.
Nobody was there apart from us. They meant to kill us.” I asked who he
thought they were, “these people who planted the bombs.” “Politicians,”
he said promptly. “They should kill each other if they have to, but why
involve us?”

Corpers are Nigerians

I asked the
Director General of the NYSC, Muharazu Tsiga during his visit to the
hospital the next day why youth corps members should continue to be
drafted for election duties after this debacle. “Corps members are
Nigerians,” he said. “And we must continuously give them the
opportunity to ensure that Nigeria remains united. Besides, they will
soon be the policy makers themselves.” Mr Mojid said a similar thing
when I asked if he had any regrets for donning the NYSC uniform and
serving as a polling officer. “I will never regret serving my country,”
he said proudly. “Never. But the people need reorientation. Why kill
corpers? Why, why?” A graduate of Osun State polytechnic, Mr Mojid said
he arrived Suleja for his primary assignment less than two weeks ago.
“I thought it was an opportunity to serve. But as I sit here now, I
feel scared. Even here, I am not safe,” he said, taking note of the
grim surroundings; the patients suffering from great trauma moaning on
their bed; the harassed nurses, the endless stream of visitors who came
to confirm if a relative survived the blast.

As I took my
leave, I asked Mr Mojid if he thought elections should still go on the
next day? “Election cannot go on,” he said. “Do you know how many more
bombs are out there?” But the next day, elections did go on but not in
Suleja, and not with Mr Mojid. When I saw him the next morning, nurses
were attending to him, his face to the wall as they prepared to give
him his injections. I asked how he was. “l hear better now,” he said.

Ibrahim Shekarau, presidential
candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and governor of Kano
State voted on Saturday at the Giginyu polling unit of Nassarawa Local
Government Area of the state.

Mr Shekarau
arrived at the polling unit at 12.10pm for accreditation and voted as
soon as voting commenced. While he was departing from the polling unit
at after voting, the security team that accompanied him to the unit
arrested a man for saying, “bamayi” (meaning we are not with you) to
the governor.

Mr Shekarau praised the large turnout of voters, saying that the exercise went peacefully in an orderly manner.

Voter apathy

However, there was
low turnout of voters at Jigirya polling unit, where the INEC official
conducting the election at the venue told NEXT correspondent that out
of the 1,268 eligible voters that registered at the unit, only 452 were
accredited at the centre at exactly 11.52am.

The official said:
“Our hope is that before the closure of accreditation, the voters will
come out and be accredited to cast their votes.” The situation was
different in Fagge B unit of Fagge Local Government Area; where the
turnout was large and impressive.

Muhammad Sani
Abacha, governorship candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC) who voted at Fagge B Ward expressed satisfaction with the
turnout, saying it was impressive.

It was also
observed that election materials arrived at all the polling units in
time, while the INEC adhoc staff said there was no report of any
violence within Kano city at the time of filing this report.

In Rogo Local Government Area which is
almost 150 kilometres away from Kano metropolis, election materials
arrived on time, but low turnout was also recorded at various polling
units of Zarewa, Bari, Rogo town and Zoza towns of the local government
area.</

The National
Assembly election started in most parts of Kaduna by 8.30am but the
exercise was marred by low turnout of voters in some polling units in
Kaduna North and Chikun Local Government Areas.

At Camp Road
polling unit, Kabala Doki ward, where Vice President Namadi Sambo, and
his wife, Amina, voted at about 2.20pm, only 469 of the 1,148 people
that registered at the polling unit were accredited.

A voter, Aisha Audu
told NEXT that the reason for the low turnout was that some people who
registered at the polling centre were not from the ward while some of
them were unable to return to the polling unit to cast their votes
after accreditation.

However, many
voters at many polling stations visited complained of the delay in the
accreditation procedure. They called on the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to adopt the method where voters would be
accredited and vote at the same time.

“Accrediting people and asking them to go home and come back later to vote is very cumbersome and time consuming.

“Most of the voters
could not cast their votes because they couldn’t withstand the scourge
of the sun. Some of them are old to stand up for too long, so they
left,” said another voter, Ahmed Uba.

At some polling
units at Sabo Tasha, in Chikun Lcal Government Area, voters reported
that the absence of INEC officials and voting materials prevented them
from exercising their civic rights.

One of them, Alice
Usman who is a member of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said
as at 1pm that they were yet to see the officials.

“The situation is
deliberate because you can see that where the PDP has strong hold,
materials are supplied massively in those places. But you can notice
scarcity of election materials in places they know they will lose.”

Too many to handle

At Unugwar Sunday
in Sabo Tasha, it was observed that most of the polling units had over
2,000 registered voters. The same was witnessed in Barnawa and Narayi
areas, both in Chikun Council. But accreditation and voting were done
simultaneously in some other areas in Sabo-Tasha and Ungugwar Romi
where materials arrived late.

However, there was
orderly conduct of voters and security agents in most of the polling
stations as well as heavy presence of security personnel who were
stationed at strategic points in the state.

There was complaint of under aged people who voted in some polling
units in Tudun-wada and Rigassa areas in Kaduna North Local Government
Area despite the presence of the Police and other security agents. An
ANPP agent said that most of those who cast their vote were not up to
18 years, threatening that his party was going to file a petition to
INEC to that effect.

Three persons were
arrested in possession of Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) materials in Guyuk Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

NEXT could not
confirm whether the ballot papers were fake or authentic because the
state Resident Electoral Commissioner, Kassim Gaidam said he was yet to
ascertain the authenticity of the seized ballot materials.

“I need to see the material before I can ascertain if the confiscated ballot materials are fake or genuine,” he said.

Head of the army
command in the state, John N. Nwoka told reporters that his men
apprehended a man and two ladies in possession of 500 ballot papers
suspected to belong to INEC for the National Assembly polls.

He said preliminary investigation revealed that none of the three persons arrested were officials of the electoral body.

Mr Nwoka said the culprits will be handed over to the appropriate authorities for further investigations.

The Adamawa State
commissioner of police, Musa Daura, following his tour of polling
centres in the state, said the election was orderly and peaceful.
Underage voters were sighted in some polling units visited.