The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), has decried incidents of vote buying and failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), among other irregularities observed during the Anambra governorship election, Saturday.
The group who observed the ongoing election in the Southeast state said that there were widespread reports of incidents of vote-buying, lamenting that the situation could affect the credibility of the election.
The New Diplomat had reported that there was failure of BVAS in many parts of the state including the polling unit of Prof. Charles Soludo, Candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The system hitch also stopped Soludo from casting his vote in due time and was only able to vote around 5 pm, Saturday after spending about five hours waiting for the machine to verify his biometrics. Also, reports emerged during the day that several political parties allegedly indulged in vote-buying to lure eligible voters.
According to reports, N6,000 and N10,000 were offered to the electorate in exchange for their votes.
Giving update on the election, the CDD during a press conference in Abuja said it observed widespread incidents of vote-buying.
The group also said it observed that there was delay in the commencement of the voting exercise due to the lateness of INEC officials, election materials, among others.
Recall also that the INEC had extended the time for the voting exercise to allow eligible voters cast their votes.
The group who lamented the situation said the announcement of election results might come late.
This was also contained in a statement issued after the group’s press conference in Abuja and made available to The New Diplomat.
The statement partly reads, “Reports from CDD’s observers indicate widespread delays in the commencement of accreditation and voting as a result of late arrival of poll officials. For instance, at 9:55am, CDD observers reported that INEC officials had not arrived at Otolo Ward 2, Nnewi North LGA.
“Likewise, in Ihiala LGA, observer reports indicate that INEC officials and electoral materials had not arrived at 1pm. The lateness of officials in commencing accreditation and polling has left many voters frustrated, necessitating INEC’s extension of the voting period till 4pm and possibly till tomorrow. This will likely contribute to the late closing of the polls and the delayed announcement of the election results.
“One repeated occurence that threatens to mar the quality of the election outcome has been the widely reported failure of the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation System (BIVAS) across numerous polling units in the state. In several instances, the BVAS failed to recognize voters’ faces and fingerprints, and those affected were asked to wait until the challenge was resolved. CDD’s EAC observers also reported malfunctioning of the BVAS in Ayamelum LGA with three polling units affected.
“As expected, CDD observers recorded a low turnout of voters across the state. This reflects the climate of uncertainty leading up to the election, as well as the historically high levels of voter apathy that have been recorded in the state. The heightened voter apathy will likely be accentuated in several polling units as news spreads about the disruptions caused by the malfunctioning of the BIVAS.
“We have also noted widespread incidents of vote-buying that will likely negatively impact the credibility of the election result. CDD observers reported numerous not-so-discreet cases of “see-and-buy” in pollings units across the 21 LGAs of the state. In many reported cases, police officers have been alleged to have looked the other way, likely as a result of having themselves been compromised. This practice, which appears to cut across party lines, has been an increasing feature of Nigerian elections and requires more concerted remedial efforts by INEC and other critical stakeholders.”
