On Wednesday, the Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) and the Community Life Project (CLP) presented a preliminary report on the elections for the National Assembly and the President that took place on Saturday.
Following a review of the elections on Saturday, the groups—which served as election observers—presented the report at the JDPC centre in Sabo Yaba, Lagos.
They found some problems with the process and requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) change its procedures in order for the March 11 House of Assembly and Governorship elections to have a satisfactory result nationwide.
Rev. Fr. Raymond Aniwafe, the JPDC’s executive director, reported that the organisation sent 272 observers to the election on February 25.
He claimed that from December 12, 2022, to February 5, 2023, the organisation was in charge of overseeing the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) prior to the election.
The director said the turnout of voters at the polling booths was huge and an improvement on the previous elections.
He commended civil society groups and the media for good voter education before the election.
According to him, a total of 87, 009, 008 PVCs were collected by eligible voters, which was an improvement, though administrative lapses still caused many not able to get theirs.
“The most of the flaws of the election were human induced ones that could be prevented if the regulatory body recruited the right persons and trained them well for the project.
“The malfunction of the BVAS machine that failed to transmit election result when it most needed cast doubt on the honesty of INEC and its ad hoc staff that manned those devices at the polls,” he said.
The priest encouraged Nigerians to prepare for the March 11 election to right the wrongs by coming out en masse to vote their conscience.
He said that the coming election was closer to the people, and urged the electoral body to be above board at the polls.
Ms Ngozi Iwere, Executive Director, Community Life Project (CLP), said that Nigerians should not be deterred from participating in the leadership selection process.
Iwere faulted some of the dispositions of security operatives at the election, noting that a proper security network of elections would give people confidence in the process.
She decried the activities of thugs at polls units and urged the people to stand for their rights, calling on the police to protect the people always for a good society.
She noted that people with disability and pregnant women were given chance at polling units to cast their vote.
“We, as civil society, will engage INEC with many of the complaints people have made alongside the flaws observed during the election with a view to finding solutions to these.
“We are going to press it on the authorities to bring those involved in election fraud to book,” she said.
NAN reports that the JDPC is a social arm of the Catholic Church that promotes good governance.(NAN)
