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Endangering 2023 election

  • ‘Unabated attacks on INEC offices’ll mar 2023 polls’

 

Few months to the 2023 general election, lawyers have expressed deep concerns over the unabated arsonists attacks on the facilities of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across the country. The lawyers warned that if the ugly trend is not promptly arrested, it portends grave danger for the successful conduct of next year’s polls. AKEEM NAFIU reports

 

“For me, it is a condemnable act. We should also appeal to our compatriots that violence does not bring anything good to any community.

 

“For INEC, it is a challenge which I think the chairman has said is surmountable, and I hope it would not impact negatively on the forthcoming 2023 elections”, one of them said.

 

Another one said: “Most of the responses from the government have been reactive.

The fact remains that elections are very important and when you begin to attack facilities, it could make or mar the elections, as it were. “Not only will it trigger fear in the citizenry, particularly those that want to vote, it could also lead to a situation where there could be a shortage of materials”.

The above quotes were part of submissions by some senior lawyers while condemning the incessant arsonists attacks on INEC offices across the country. The lawyers spoke amidst the recent arsonists attacks on the Ogun and Osun States offices of INEC.

Condemnation has since been trailing the twin incident which occurred within a spate of 24 hours amidst preparations by INEC for the 2023 general election. Suspected hoodlums had around 1.15 am on Thursday, 10th November, 2022, set the INEC office at Iyana Mortuary in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on fire. Few hours after the incident, similar attack was carried out on the Ede South Local Government Area office of INEC by another set of hoodlums.

The hoodlums who raided the INEC offices were said to have used soaked loaves of bread with petrol to ignite fire. Confirming the incidents, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of Voters’ Education, Festus Okoye, in a statement, said the attacks on the Commission’s offices few months to the 2023 general election is worrisome.

The statement reads: “The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Ogun State, Dr. Niyi Ijalaiye, reported that our office in Abeokuta South Local Government Area was attacked and set ablaze. “The incident occurred around 1.15am when some unidentified persons overpowered the security personnel on duty and set the entire building ablaze.

The main building and all the Commission’s movable assets in the office were destroyed. “Items destroyed also included 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, eight electric power generators and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs).

“The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State, Dr. Mutiu Agboke, reported that INEC’s office in Ede South Local Government Area was attacked and set ablaze. The incident occurred in the early hours of Thursday when some unidentified persons attacked the building and set a portion of it ablaze. “Fortunately, the damage to our Ede South Local Government was limited to a section of the building and only some furniture items were destroyed.

“The attention of the Nigeria Police Force and other security and safety agencies has been drawn to the incidents and they have commenced investigation. With just 106 days to the 2023 general election when the Commission has commenced the movement of materials to our offices nationwide, these simultaneous attacks are very worrisome indeed”.

Previous attacks on INEC offices Prior to these latest attacks, a number of similar incidents were reported in different parts of the country, particularly in the South East and South South regions. In one of the statements issued by INEC, the electoral body revealed that 41 of its offices were attacked by armed non-state actors between Feb. 2019 and May 2021.

Imo state was said to have topped the log with the most attacks. In one of the attacks, 748 ballot boxes and 240 voting cubicles were destroyed when arsonists attacked INEC’s office in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State last year.

The incident happened while the electoral body was carrying out voter’s registration for the 2023 polls. FG’s response In a bid to stem the rising tide of arsonists attacks on INEC facilities, the Federal Government has deployed operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Civil Defence Corps, Soldiers, as well as personnel of Federal Fire Service to offices of the electoral body nationwide.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Baba, made the disclosure last week Thursday during a meeting with chairmen of leading political parties at the Force headquarters in Abuja.

At the meeting, the IGP also revealed that the Federal Government has equally mandated security operatives to step-up intelligence gathering, sharing and utilization in order to arrest the upsurge in political violence across the country.

Baba said: “On our part, and as an outcome of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting, the Nigeria Police Force working in collaboration with other security agencies have resolved to enhance intelligence gathering, share and utilise same to stem acts of political violence; upscale the deployment of security teams to all INEC assets and facilities nationwide with teams drawn from the police, Nigerian Army, Department of State Services, Nigeria Civil and Security Defence Corps and the Federal Fire Service to take decisive lawful action against purveyors of hate speech, incitement to violence, mobilisation of thugs and other violations, including the prompt arrest, investigation, and prosecution of offenders in line with the provisions of Sections 92 and 93 of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended.”

The meeting was sequel to the attacks on the Ogun and Osun state offices of INEC, as well as other incidences of physical violence by party supporters in Borno, Kaduna, Zamfara and other states.

In attendance at the meeting were the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyorchia Ayu; the Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress, Omoyele Sowore; the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Felix Morka; and other parties’ chieftains.

 

Others in attendance at the meeting included: National INEC Commissioner, Ms May Agbamuche-Mbo; Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency, Ahmed Abubakar; the DG, Defence Intelligence Agency, Maj Gen. Samuel Adebayo; representative of the DG, DSS and other paramilitary agencies.

 

SERAP’s litigation threat In the meantime, a rights group, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has threatened to sue the Federal Government if urgent actions aimed  at bringing perpetrators of the dastardly acts are not taken. The organisation in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari noted with dismay, the failure of his government to end series of arsonists attacks on INEC offices across the country by promptly arresting and prosecuting perpetrators.

In the petition dated 12th November, 2022 and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP urged Buhari to urgently direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and appropriate law enforcement agencies to identify and arrest the perpetrators and sponsors of attacks on INEC offices across the country. The organization threatened to sue the President if its request is not heeded within seven days.

The petition reads: “There are recent reports of simultaneous attacks on the local government offices of INEC in Abeokuta, Ogun State, and Ede, Osun State. There were at least 41 attacks in 14 states between February 2019 and May 2021. Recent reports also showed over 50 attacks on INEC offices in several states in the last few months. “These attacks are increasingly putting INEC under siege.

If not urgently addressed, the escalating attacks on the offices of INEC would impair the people’s right to vote. “The attacks would also undermine public trust and confidence in the electoral process. It is confidence in the process that is the true backbone of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and the rule of law.

“The right to vote will have little meaning if perpetrators and sponsors of attacks on INEC offices continue to get away with their crime against the Nigerian people. An electoral commission that can operate in a safe and secured environment is essential to Nigeria’s constitutional democracy.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.

“The continuing failure by your government to investigate, identify, name and shame the perpetrators and their sponsors, and to bring them to justice is fuelling impunity, and resulting in a vicious cycle of at  tacks and violence.

“SERAP urges you to direct the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to immediately provide adequate security to protect INEC facilities across the country to ensure and guarantee the safety and security of the commission’s staff and materials. “SERAP is seriously concerned about the escalating attacks on the offices and equipment of INEC, and election materials.

Ensuring the security and safety of INEC officials, and their working environment, as well as election equipment and materials is essential for the commission to effectively and satisfactorily carry out its constitutional and statutory responsibilities.

“When armed non-state actors including political thugs and their sponsors attack the offices of INEC and get away with their crime, the essential electoral reforms that have taken place would have little or no effect on the electoral process.

“Arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators and sponsors of these attacks would prevent repetition of such acts ahead of the 2023 elections, improve the ability of INEC to discharge its responsibilities, and promote the right to vote.

“Any failure to urgently track, identify, arrest and prosecute the perpetrators and sponsors of the attacks may be construed as the inability or unwillingness of your government to confront the problem, and to ensure and guarantee the safety and security of INEC officials, equipment and election materials.

“Persistent and widespread attacks on the offices of INEC directly undermine the people’s right to vote, and the deprivation of the right to participation in a safe and secured environment would completely compromise the legitimacy of representative government.

“The Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] provides in Section 14(1)(c) that the participation by people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

“Similarly, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance to which Nigeria is a state party guarantee the right to political participation, including the right to vote.

“These human rights treaties also require states parties including Nigeria to promote the establishment of the necessary conditions  to foster citizen participation, and to investigate reports of attacks on INEC offices and bring perpetrators to justice. “In Abeokuta, some unidentified persons reportedly overpowered the security personnel on duty and set the entire building ablaze.

The main building and all the Commission’s movable assets in the office were destroyed. “They include: 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, 8 electric power generators and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). In Ede, some unidentified persons reportedly attacked INEC building and set a portion of it ablaze.

“These increasing attacks on the offices of INEC are coming with just over 100 days to the 2023 general election. Attacks on the offices of INEC are also happening in the face of reports of political repression of opposition parties by some state governors, and political violence including attacks by suspected political thugs during campaigns”.

Lawyers speak Like SERAP, some senior lawyers have equally condemned the burning of INEC offices by hoodlums at a time preparations are in top gear for the 2023 general election. The lawyers asked the Federal Government to promptly arrest the ugly trend so as not to jeopardize the successful conduct of next year’s poll.

Speaking on the issue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Yusuf Ali, disclosed that every reasonable person must condemn any act of violence whether physical to human beings or on government and private property. While stating that arsonists and arson should not be encouraged, the silk maintained that attacks on the electoral body remains an aberration.

Ali said: “This also played out some years ago, I don’t think it should become a ritual whenever an election is looming. For me, it is a condemnable act. We should also appeal to our compatriots that violence does not bring anything good to any community.

“For INEC, it is a challenge which I think the chairman has said is surmountable, and I hope it would not impact negatively on the forthcoming 2023 elections”. On his part, another member of the Inner Bar, Mr. Victor Okpara, said government should not only be reactive to the issue of arson being carried out against INEC.

 

“Most of the responses from the government have been reactive. The fact remains that elections are very important and when you begin to attack facilities, it could make or mar the elections, as it were. “Not only will it trigger fear in the citizenry, particularly those that want to vote, it could also lead to a situation where there could be a shortage of materials. I don’t know what is in the kitty of INEC, I don’t know what the budget is, I don’t know what their response is to replace some of these materials, and if you are going to replace those materials, at what cost? “Nigeria is already bleeding economically; do we need to go this way as a nation?

For me, security should be beefed-up around INEC facilities and if need be, involve some other law enforcement agents so that at the end of the day, we would witness a reduction of this act and most importantly, most of the time when we witness this, we don’t see anybody being prosecuted.

“Under the Electoral Act of 2022, the act of arson is a big offence, and so we need to see a scapegoat, we need to see people being sent to jail. “When you come to subvert the will of the electorates, it is as good as committing a capital offence as far as I am concerned. This is the only time Nigerians can express themselves as to their disaffection with the government. Not only should we run after the perpetrators of this offence, but we should also go after their sponsors”, Opara said.

In his comments, Prof. Awa Kalu (SAN) opined that any act of arson and particularly the one carried out on INEC facilities across Nigeria does not make any sense because it is a drawback for the country to have a successful election come 2023. Kalu said: “I will join the call for those arsonists to desist. It is a sad development that should not be encouraged by anyone”.

Chief Gboyega Awomolo (SAN) while also condemning the act, expressed his hope that it will not have any negative impact on the 2023 polls Awomolo said: “What I can say is that the act is condemnable.

Since INEC has told Nigerians that it is taking sufficient measures to protect its facilities, while most of its documents are backed up, I do not think those acts of arson would have any negative impact on the coming general elections in the country”.

 

*Additional report by Francis Iwuchukwu

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