The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and a group of local and international observers have criticised the conduct of the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections conducted on Saturday, lamenting that they were characterised by violence and vote-buying.
In separate statements issued on Sunday, the PDP, the Diplomatic Watch, a group of international observers, and YIAGA Africa, stated that the elections fell short of the required standard.
The PDP in a statement issued by Kola Ologbondiyan, its National Publicity Secretary, accused the All Progressives Progress (APC) of using brutal tactics to intimidate voters and disrupt the elections, likening the situation to a war zone seen in other African countries.
Read Also: Kogi, Bayelsa Polls Affected By Thuggery, Violence – INEC
The main opposition party claimed that the conduct of the elections had dragged Nigeria’s development backwards and had the tendency to derail Nigeria’s nascent democracy.
The statement read: “Nigerians and the entire world watched in horror as the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government trampled our democracy underfoot with an utmost impunity that can only be obtainable in Hitler’s Germany and Samuel Doe’s Liberia, where the lives and rights of citizens meant nothing to suppressive power mongers.
“Citizens agonized as APC-controlled security forces aided armed hoodlums to invade polling centres, shoot and kill innocent citizens, cart away ballot boxes, stuffed them with already thumb printed ballot papers in favour of APC, after which results are allocated to the APC and handed over to a compromised Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to announce against the will of the people.”
The party claimed that the standard of elections conducted President Muhammadu Buhari had depreciated, warning that Nigerians may begin to doubt the electoral process.
“With the outcome of the Kogi and Bayelsa governorship elections, Nigerians and the world have lost hope in our institutions of democracy and security system as presently constituted.
“They have completely lost hope in INEC under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, which has shown itself to be a repressive tool in the hands of dictatorial forces,” the statement read.
The PDP, however, stated that it “remains strong and united in the face of all odds” and promised to address Nigerians on how it would resolve its grievances from both elections.
In the same vein, the Diplomatic Watch, which comprised personnel from the EU delegation, United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Ireland, expressed its “alarm at reports of widespread violence and intimidation, some of which were witnessed by our teams in Kogi.
“There are reports of fatalities and people missing, including INEC staff. Our thoughts are with all the victims and their families,” the statement read.
Read Also: Polls: We Recorded More Violence In Kogi Than Bayelsa – Police
It also said it was “concerned by evident vote-buying and credible reports of ballot snatching in both Bayelsa and Kogi”.
The international observer group urged the political stakeholders to call for calm, and asked the security agencies to investigate the reports of widespread violence in both Bayelsa and Kogi states.
YIAGA Africa, however, went a step further, asking INEC to cancel the election results for the Kogi governorship and Kogi West senatorial district rerun elections and conduct a fresh election.
According to the observer group, political parties and politicians did not respect the election regulations as they encouraged vote-buying, voter intimidation and violence.
“Political parties failed to contest these elections according to democratic rules of the game and instead vied for elected office based on buying votes rather than speaking to issues, manipulating the courts for political advantage, and compromising the political environment to prevent political competition.
“While it is the political parties that have undermined the pre-election and election day environment thereby undermining the fundamental human rights of voters in Kogi State to fully and freely participate in all aspects of the electoral process, it is the security agencies that have failed to maintain public order and to bring to book those responsible for electoral offenses and it is the courts that have entertained the shenanigans of political party petitions designed only to limit political competition.
“Instead, the people of Kogi have not been given the opportunity to fully exercise their right to vote. As a result, the results of these elections, regardless of the outcome, cannot be said to reflect the preferences of voters in Kogi. In such a circumstance, YIAGA AFRICA calls upon INEC to conduct a thorough investigation of the conduct of the Kogi governorship and senatorial elections and to conduct a new election that gives voters a genuine opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” the statement partly read.
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