TheCable

The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to discountenance the supplementary elections where violence occurred and proceed to make a declaration on the basis of the polls already concluded.

This is in the light of the widespread violence in the areas where supplementary elections were conducted on March 23.
In a statement, Clement Nwankwo, convener of the platform, expressed concern over reports of disruption of the electoral process in Kano.

“Situation Room condemns the massive deployment of thugs and party agents to polling units especially in Kano,” the statement read.

“In Gama Ward, for instance, a large number of thugs were seen intimidating voters, observers and even INEC officials around the polling units, unchecked, despite the presence of security personnel. There were also incidents of high deployment of unaccredited party agents to polling units who aided the disruption of the voting process.”

Nwankwo said it is particularly concerned about abuses of the electoral process and violence which occurred despite the deployment of top-level police officials, unlike in the previous elections, where the state commissioner of police took charge without senior level officers.

“Reports also showed that there were high incidences of vote buying facilitated by thugs and party agents. This trend was seen particularly in Gama Ward of Nassarawa local government, Kano. There were also reported cases of attempted inducement of observers with cash.”