When will election violence end?

Opara astounded stakeholders including the state Returning Officer, RO, and the State Resident Commissioner, REC, of INEC when she confessed that she and her colleagues were held hostage for several hours by elders, youths and thugs in the area, and were forced to write results of the governorship polls in favour of a party.

“We were held hostage by the elders of the area who took us to a house where we were forced to write the results of the governorship elections. I and the collation officer for Oru East local government had no choice but to do what they asked us to do in order to save our lives because the people were very aggressive and that was why we could not do the collation in the other wards and had to come back to our office in Owerri,” she narrated.

Unconfirmed report from Imo State has revealed that result sheets from areas won by one of the candidates were recorded on sheets with Sokoto serial numbers.

The Imo State Governorship election was declared inconclusive by INEC. But what happened in Oru in Imo is child's play compared to the degree of violence that happened in other states across the country during the election last week. For many observers, it was like the country descending to its previous ignoble status when elections were a do or die affair; where killings, barefaced intimidations and destruction of property held sway.

Independent observers had a field day reporting electoral violence across the 29 and 36 states where governorship and state assembly elections were held respectively in the country.

Over 10 political parties participated in the election. But there are sufficient reasons to worry over the spate of violence that occurred during the voting process at the polling units, even though results of the outcome of the polls have been announced with some areas still designated inconclusive. Although accreditation went on smoothly without incident in most polling units across the country, significant incidences of shootings, protests, arson and fatalities were recorded in most geopolitical zones in the country.

For example, election was suspended in Essan PU 004 in Dokota Ward, Gbako LGA, Niger State due to unrests. In Eku community, Ethiope East LGA of Delta State, at least two persons were killed after violence erupted. Furthermore, in Afikpo South LGA of Ebonyi State, thugs reportedly intercepted the transportation of sensitive materials in a polling unit in Oso Ward 2. In addition, the Ogudu, Odi-Olowo (Mushin) and Osoroko (Ibeju Lekki) areas of Lagos State witnessed minor skirmishes between supporters of the two major political parties, namely the PDP and APC, with ballot boxes reportedly thrown into the lagoon in Osoroko.

Gunmen were also reported to have taken over the Town Hall Polling Zone in Ilase-Ijesa, Obokun LGA of Osun state. Rivers state reportedly recorded the highest and most serious cases of violence in this election. Protests, violence and sporadic shootings over alleged non-availability of some electoral materials were reported in Buguma, Obio Akpor and Andoni LGAs. In Obio Akpor, for example, thugs reportedly snatched electoral materials meant for voting.

Also in Gokana LGA, the police apprehended men in fake military uniform and identity cards.

The house of the current Rivers State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Joeba West, was also reportedly set ablaze. Clashes involving political party agents were also reported in Iyamoyom in Obubra LGA of Cross River State, leading to injuries.

Independent Election Monitoring Group, IEMG, where perhaps more graphic in there description of what happened in Rivers State. The group described what happened in Rivers State as a “bloody election, a coup-de-tat against democracy.”

From its own findings, it may well appear that INEC itself is to blame for the ugly outcome. Across the state, INEC officials were reported to have arrived late in most of the polling units across the local government areas of the state. Observers noted that none of the INEC staff arrived before 9am while most arrived between 10 and 1pm.

The late arrival also affected INEC materials. There were incidents of very late or non-arrival of INEC staff and materials in some polling units. For instance, by 12 noon INEC materials and adhoc staff had not left its RAC at the Primary School 1, Eneka covering Eneka/Rukpokwu Ward 14 in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state. Accreditation of voters also suffered tardiness leading to tension in the state.

It was gathered that accreditation did not commence on time where it actually happened. In most places it did not happen as materials never arrived, or when they arrived, they were carted away to unknown destinations by unknown gun carrying thugs, often times in company of uniformed security personnel, as reported. Observers also noted that security was not adequate on that day. Generally, most polling stations reportedly had security presence. But there were also reports that security was either absent or insufficient in a number of places.

There are documented reports of killings across the state. Violence, intimidation, harassment of voters/observers and disruption and carting away of voting materials were rife. As a direct result, actual voting never took place in most units and wards and local governments in the state. For instance, shootings were reported in Ikuru Town, Andoni Local government area. Voters as a direct result were scared of turning up to vote.