A coalition of Civil Society Organisations have yesterday, vehemently condemned the recent avalanche of electoral violence before, during and after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), conducted national and state assembly re-run elections in Rivers State.
In a joint statement issued at the weekend, and also called for in-depth investigation into the killings by some persons who sponsored and carried out the dastardly act.
The CSOs were part of the election observers during the Rivers State re-run elections, whose coordinators signed the statement include Ezenwa Nwagwu- Partners for Electoral Reforms, Dr Chima Amadi – Centre for Transparency Advocacy, Okechukwu Nwanguma- Network for Police Reform in Nigeria, Faith Nwadishi – Koyenum Immalah Foundation, Jaye Gaskia- Say No Campaign, Samson Itodo – YIAGA, Funke Philips- Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group, Emeka Ononamadu – Citizens Centre for Integrated Development and Social Rights, Laz Apir – Transition Monitoring Group, Esther Uzoma- Proactive Gender Initiative.
Others are Kemi Okenyodo-Partners West Africa – Nigeria: RoLE Initiative, and Hauwa Shekarau – Law,Media and Development Initiative, Aminu Mahmud – Public Interest Lawyers League, Patrick Chiekwe – Foundation for the Conservation of the Earth (FOCONE), Delight Aniche – Open Development Initiative, Effiom Duke – Green Concern for Development (Greencode), Umoh Isua Ikoh- Peace Point Action, Larry Ineme- Policy Alert, Barr. Tochukwu Ohazuruike- Liberty Foundation, and John Atani: Nigeria Electoral Rights Group.
The statement reads in part: “The outcome of the March 19, 2016 Rivers rerun election is yet another sore point in our national journey to a free, fair and credible electoral process. While the Electoral Management Body was busy making preparations for a credible election, the political gladiators in the state were busy planning for war and perfecting means of undermining the efforts of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
“We the undersigned therefore condemn in the strongest terms possible the violence that was unleashed in the state by the political actors and their agents and call for the arrest and prosecution of any individual found to have remotely or actively aided and abetted these occurrences.
“The numerous security breaches culminating in the wanton destruction of lives and property despite the very large number of security personnel deployed to Rivers State is a cause for worry. 6000 conventional Policemen, 8 additional or visiting mobile police squadrons to support the 46 units of mobile police already serving in the state, soldiers, SSS operatives, Civil Defence personnel and other paramilitary agencies could not provide adequate security for the National and State Assembly elections in just one state.
“More worrisome is the fact that each of the above mentioned agencies was associated with particular political parties and report from observers in the field can confirm that in several instances these security agencies worked for the parties they were associated with.
However, they called on politicians nationwide to shun violence and all Nigerians to continue to support the INEC in its efforts to reform the electoral process and provide a fair platform for Nigerians to choose their leaders freely.
Meanwhile, the CSOs also joined millions to mourn the death of the youth corps member, Samuel Okonta, and also condoled with the diseased family for the loss of their son during the election.
“We join millions of other well meaning Nigerians to mourn with the family of Samuel Okonta, the Youth Corps member who lost his life while on election duty. We also condole with the families of all other citizens, staff of INEC and security operatives who lost their lives during the election.
“We restate our total support to and for INEC as it grapples with the challenges of reforming a broken and flawed election process in our country, which is worsened by the Machiavellian politics of might is right of the political elites in Nigeria.
“We also call on politicians nationwide to shun violence and all Nigerians to continue to support the INEC in its efforts to reform our electoral process and provide a fair platform for Nigerians to choose their leaders freely”, the statement added.
