How security operatives, INEC officials, compromised 2019 election results – Report
A post mortem analysis of the 2019 general elections has documented how the collation process of the election results by INEC was opaque, chaotic, vulnerable to manipulation and, in some locations, violently disrupted.
“Surprisingly, the three states most affected by the Boko Haram insurgency — Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe — were not among the states with very high level of reported collation challenges,” the report observed. “In Kaduna State, for example, collation was slowed by late arrival of materials and the incompetence of some presiding officers. Observers reported that Governor Nasir El-Rufai returned to his ward collation centre at 6pm on election day to observe the counting of ballots but left out of frustration four hours later as the presiding officer continued to struggle to calculate the polling unit results,” the report said.
“Observer reports also revealed widespread failures to follow correct INEC-mandated processes regarding ward-level collation. Many election staff appeared to be confused or lacked knowledge of these procedures. Local and state INEC staff also demonstrated a willingness to ignore procedures. Instead of seeking guidance from their superiors, they readily used their own discretion to change collation procedures and relocated collation centres with little or no notice.
The report pointed out that the disorganisation and poor planning on the part of INEC also hampered ward-level collation activities, stating that in many wards across Nigeria, INEC officials caused confusion, delays and created opportunities for election malfeasance by shifting or failing to clarify the location of WCCs.
“Given its sizeable budget, it is unclear why INEC was unable to provide basic tools required by the Commission’s ward election officers and ad hoc staff to conduct ward-level collation. It further stated that in some areas, members of the security forces played an active role in disrupting collation activities.
“In Okrika LGA, for example, security personnel invaded the INEC office in the LGA and snatched official collated election results. Before doing so, the same security agents had threatened collation centre officials by shooting their firearms into the air. The report also listed the inappropriate activities of political thugs and party agents as major factors which contributed to collation challenges.
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