Ballot Snatching: Bayelsa, Delta And Imo Top List - Jega

12 April 2011 

Stanley Nkwocha, Edegbe Odemwingie and Bayo Oladeji, Abuja

• PDP in crucial meeting in Abuja

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, told international poll observers yesterday that three states - Bayelsa, Delta and Imo -  recorded the highest cases of ballot snatching in last Saturday poll. However, despite irregularities, isolated cases of violence and logistic lapses observed in the exercise, observers rank Saturday’s election high. In separate preliminary reports, international election monitoring missions to Nigeria, chiefly the Commonwealth; the European Union; and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), noted a marked improvement from previous exercises largely tainted by irregularities.

Receiving a combined delegation of international election observers at the headquarters of the commission, Jega said INEC was targeting the next election to correct the lapses recorded in the National assembly polls.

Jega is scheduled to meet his resident electoral commissioners (RECs) today in preparation for the presidential elections.

“There were problems with thuggery. Luckily, the police have made a number of arrests; in fact, earlier today, I got information that the police have arrested over 500 people, many of them thugs. The military have also arrested people who carried arms on the Election Day,” Jega said.

NDI in its preliminary report noted: “Increased citizen awareness, public confidence in the leadership of election authorities, and greater engagement by political parties and civil society all provided the basis for a break from previous failed elections,”

“However, continued vigilance is needed to realise the promise of these polls.  Positive momentum must continue to build to meet the challenges that will be presented by the upcoming presidential and state elections.”

In the report, the delegation reeled out irregularities and lapses recorded by its observers which included late openings of polls; inaccurate, incomplete or missing voter lists; inconsistent application of procedures; underage voting; overcrowding of polling sites; lack of ballot secrecy; failure to post results at polling sites; and missing essential materials; isolated cases of omission of party logos on ballots, intimidation, vote buying and ballot box snatching.

“Unless these problems are addressed, they could adversely affect hotly contested presidential and gubernatorial races in which voter turnout is expected to be higher,” NDI said.

On the modified open ballot system adopted for the ongoing ballots which encourages eligible voters to “vote and wait”, the delegation advised a reversal of the voting system in future elections.

“We hope that as elections improve in the future, a less complicated and onerous process can be adopted,” the delegation said.

Chairman of the Commonwealth observer group to the Nigeria elections and former Botswana president Festus Mogae, in a statement on the National Assembly polls, said its observation teams noted several logistical deficiencies and procedural inconsistencies across the country.

“We do not believe that these called into question the overall credibility of the process...we feel that there is scope and time for certain measures to be taken to improve the conduct of the elections at the next round, especially if the turnout is larger-which we fully hope and expect to be the case,” the statement said.

Leader of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) in Nigeria Mr. Alojz Peterle said cases of underage voting, inaccurate packing of results forms and lack of display of the results in several polling units could affect the entire process except corrective measures are taken before the conduct of the remaining elections.

“We observed an overall encouraging conduct of the elections in a generally peaceful atmosphere. Our observers reported that the majority of visited polling units were operational, and that accreditation and voting were mainly conducted in a timely manner.

“However, problems such as inaccurate voters’ registers and inconsistent implementation of electoral procedures were observed and need to be addressed before the next elections,” Peterle said.

Following its loss of vital seats in last Saturday’s National Assembly polls, the  Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains yesterday met at the Presidential Villa with a view to mapping out strategies for the elections slated for Saturday.

Indications emerged yesterday that apprehension had gripped the chieftains of the party nationwide, following the defeat of prominent members of the party during the National Assembly elections.

The electorate had voted out PDP giants like the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Iyiola  Omisore, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo–Bello, Senator Kanti Bello  and Senator Bode Olajumoke.

Unlike in 2007, when the PDP had about 90 of the 109 senators in its kitty in the National Assembly and about 320 of the 360 members of the House of Representatives, the party may barely sneak away with about 60 senators and 200 reps in the next political dispensation.

A source close to the leadership of the party confided in our correspondent that the development had rattled the party, saying that the leadership of the party never expected the heavyweights to lose the elections that were taken for granted.

He added that the party would be meeting in Abuja on Monday (yesterday) to deliberate on the issue and also map out strategy to neutralise the game plan of the opposition during the presidential election on Saturday.

According to him, the main objective of the meeting is to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan wins the election on the first ballot with majority votes.

He said: “I can authoritatively tell you that the party is worried about the inability of our prominent and brilliant members to return to the National Assembly. I must tell you that the leadership is not happy about the outcome of the election. And that is why an emergency meeting has to be summoned to deliberate on the issue. We are also putting in place certain strategy to ensure that the president wins of the first ballot.

Our correspondent further learnt that some of the party chieftains were not happy that Bankole conceded defeat to the ACN without conferring with the party leadership. It was gathered that the chieftains viewed Bankole’s action as too hasty on the grounds that the party was still reviewing the situation and might soon make its position known on the elections.

Despite the loss of the opposition to the ruling PDP in the National Assembly polls, they are undecided on what to do in order to wrestle power from Jonathan in this weekend’s election.

Out of the results of about 83 senatorial districts announced by the INEC nationwide, as at the time of filling this report, PDP has secured 52 seats followed by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) with 13 seats.  Both ANPP and CPC each won six seats, Labour Party three, APGA and DPP had one seat each.

A report in a national daily yesterday  said that the opposition had begun meeting on the way forward with a view to adopting a presidential candidate of a party with the most members in the National Assembly. “The original plan was for the party that wins more National Assembly seats to produce a joint presidential candidate in an alliance, while the party that comes second would produce the leadership of National Assembly,” said one of the reports.

LEADERSHIP findings however proved contrary as all the three opposition parties involved in the alliance talks- the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), ACN and the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) –debunked the story in entirety.

Speaking with the spokesman of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu of ACN, Ibrahim Moddibbo, he said, “It is our wish for all the opposition to adopt Mallam Nuhu Ribadu as joint presidential candidate but that has not happened and it would not happen until after the coming Saturday election when there would be a run-off.  I am not aware of any meeting to that effect as I am talking to you now, may be after the Saturday election.”

Speaking in the same vein, the spokesman of ACN, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said his party was still waiting to hear from other parties just as he disclosed that he was not aware of any meeting that going on among the opposition.

Mr. Yinka Odumakin, the spokesman of the CPC Presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari described the story as “a mere speculation of the paper or the writer. I am not aware of such an agreement among the opposition. It is just their  own speculation. We in the CPC are still working hard for the coming election but we know that we need the cooperation of other parties to defeat the monster called PDP.”

When asked if his principal was ready to step down, he said; “We have not reached that stage. The question of stepping down does not arise now.”

Mallam Sule Yau Sule, on his part completely denied the story. He refused to comment on it just as he denied any on-going meeting among the opposition involving his principal and the standard bearer of ANPP, Mallam Ibrahim Skekarau. According to him, “I am not aware of such plan. In fact I am hearing for the first time from you.” When he was referred to the newspaper that reported it, he said, “I am not aware, as such and cannot comment on what I am ignorant about.”

Leadership checks also reveal that each of the three parties strongly believes that the National Assembly poll cannot be the standard to measure the performance or acceptability of its candidate. According to one of the spokesmen who sought anonymity, “The Presidential election is a different ball game, so asking anyone to step down now is a huge joke. So you wait until the result is out. We know ourselves.”

Each of the three presidential candidates has told those who care to listen that he would not step down instead it is others that should step down for him. Whereas not a few pundits believe the presidential poll would be decided on the first balloting.

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