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NIGERIA-VOTE-ELECTION
Buhari scores first gains as concerns mount over Nigeria vote
ABUJA, Feb 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
scored early gains on Monday in his bid for re-election after dozens died in
weekend violence and monitors voiced concern about polling-day problems.
The 76-year-old candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)
party won 57 percent of the vote in the southwestern state of Ekiti, the
first to announce its results.
Buhari also won in neighbouring Osun state but he was run close by main
challenger Atiku Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winning by
just over 10,000 votes.
A total of 72.7 million people with voter identity cards were eligible to
cast their ballot in Saturday’s polls. Parliamentary elections were held at
the same time.
The election — the sixth in the 20 years since Nigeria returned to
democracy after decades of military rule — was held on Saturday, a week
after a last-gasp postponement.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) blamed logistical
difficulties, which were not entirely ironed out by this weekend, forcing
voting to go into a second day.
The Situation Room umbrella group of over 70 civil society organisations
observing the vote, called for an inquiry into what it said was INEC’s “poor
management” of the process.
It highlighted lapses in logistics, technology and security and said INEC
had “not managed the election efficiently and significant shortcomings have
been recorded”.
“The election has been a step back from the 2015 General Election and
actions should be taken to identify what has gone wrong and what can be
corrected,” it added.
The head of the African Union observer mission, Ethiopia’s former prime
minister Hailemariam Desalegn, also said they were concerned “by the pattern
of consistent postponement”.
Elections were delayed by six weeks in 2015 on security grounds linked to
the military counter-insurgency against Boko Haram Islamists in the country’s
remote northeast.
In 2011, voting was stopped even after it had started, again because of
problems delivering ballot papers and other materials.
Hailemariam said the latest postponement had “implications for citizens’
participation and turnout”.
The National Democratic Institute and International Republican Institute
said: “Last-minute election postponements should not become the norm in
Nigeria.”
It was “highly probably” voter turn-out had been affected, it said,
adding: “Most significantly, the delay also undermined public confidence in
INEC.”
– Death toll –
The election took place against a backdrop of fears about security across
the country, as well as claims from both parties that the other was looking
to rig the result.
Neither produced evidence but INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu on Sunday said
there were reports of ballot-snatching, vote-buying and violence.
One election volunteer was killed by a stray bullet in the southern state
of Rivers, where some INEC staff and even police were held hostage before
being released unharmed.
Other election staff were attacked in the southern state of Akwa Ibom and
Kogi in the north central region.
The Situation Room, which had some 8,000 monitors on the ground, said “at
least 39 Nigerians” were killed in election-related violence on Saturday and
Sunday.
Worst-affected was Rivers, where 16 people were killed. Six other people
lost their lives in the neighbouring states of Bayelsa and Delta, in the oil-
rich Niger delta region.
Previously, analysts SBM Intelligence said 233 people were killed in 67
incidents of election-related violence from last October to Friday — an
average of two people per day.
The Situation Room highlighted reports that just over a quarter of the
nearly 120,000 polling units were under-policed, and said there were
“shortfalls and gaps” in security elsewhere.
At least six states saw disruption in polling. In the Okoto area of the
country’s biggest city, Lagos, voters were chased away and ballot boxes were
destroyed.
In Osun state, ballot papers and boxes were destroyed at the local INEC
office.
There were also reports of some “partisan” security officials,
“compromised” INEC staff and incidents involving the military, including
blocking some voters.
Police said separately that 128 people had been arrested across the
country for electoral offences, including murder, vote-buying and ballot box
snatching.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1940HRS