Groups observing the conduct of the presidential elections have condemned attempts to shut out its officials in some states of the country saying such will not augur well for the electoral process.

In a preliminary report on the conduct of the presidential polls jointly signed by Dr Jibrin Ibrahim of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC) and Clement Nwankwo, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), the groups said efforts were made to shut out the observers.

The report said, “although the situation in Plateau State is by far the most worrisome, reports reaching us from other parts of the country indicate that there is a seeming systematic and well-coordinated attempt to jeopardize the credibility of the election by arresting and terrorizing civil society observer groups whose presence is in keeping with both the Electoral Act 2010 and the guidelines issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“Although the above irregularities pose great challenges in themselves, we must reiterate that the collation of results should not be carried out under a cloud of secrecy if the election is to be seen to be free, fair and credible. It is for this reason that we call on the Inspector General of Police and the Plateau State Commissioner of Police, to cease these illegal detentions immediately. We also call on the Chair of the INEC to issue a statement denouncing the attacks and reassuring all INEC-accredited observers deployed across the country of their right to continue with their duties within the ambit of the law.”

The groups condemned the arrest of observers during the election saying “we note with dismay, the seemingly systematic and coordinated intimidation and arrest of our election observers deployed to observe the presidential elections. We are particularly disturbed by reports of these attacks in Jos, Plateau State. Although we understand that some of the observers were subsequently released, we have received reports of several other similar cases. In Warri North in Delta State, three observers were detained. Two were later released; one is still being held. Tellingly, this was the same ward where observers were detained for seven hours during the voters’ registration exercise.”

The observers also reported of attempts to rig the elections in some areas saying, “another area of serious concern is that of massive thumb-printing, as was observed in Soku, Akuku Toru LGA in Rivers State. In Benue State, the chairperson of Independent Publishers was caught in a vehicle with previously thumb-printed ballot papers. A related issue is that of ballot box snatching. Again in Benue State, six ballot boxes were snatched at Achia Ikyurav-Ya in Kwande LGA, and an undisclosed number were snatched from Pus in Shough council ward, Gwer East LG by Hon. Christine Alaago.”

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