Political parties fuelled Bayelsa electoral violence – Situation Room

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Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has said political parties stoked the violence witnessed during ongoing governorship election in Bayelsa State.

The Situation Room, a platform of over 70 civil society organisations working on elections and good governance, in a statement on Sunday also faulted security arrangements made for the election.

“Situation Room findings indicate that political parties stoked the fires of violence in the state during this election leading to incidents of violent clashes between their supporters, occasioning deaths, injury and mayhem,” it said, adding that the conduct of the politicians defied the peace accord they signed ahead of the poll.

It also said its observers noticed incidents where political parties brazenly dispensed cash to buy votes at polling units.

It added, “Situation Room is also disappointed with political leaders in the state whose conduct, carriage and disposition encouraged aggressive behavior and violence on the part of their supporters.”

In terms of the provision of security for the election, it said, “Although certain areas in the state had been previously identified as high risk areas, security agencies (particularly the police) did not deploy effectively to reflect this, making it difficult for INEC to be provided adequate security to deploy personnel across the State.”

This, it observed, resulted in the failure of the election to hold in the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area and as in polling units and wards in Nembe, Brass and Ogbia LGAs.

The civil society coalition said it also observed that there was late deployment of personnel and materials to various polling units across the entire State.

It also noted that there were several incidents of card reader failure, adding that there was “an atmosphere of apathy fuelled by the fear of violence and low civic education”.

“The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room is concerned about the lapses on the part of INEC and security agencies in the conduct of the December 5 Bayelsa governorship election,” it said.

“The lack of synergy between INEC and the security agencies may have resulted in some of the challenges associated with the election, including late delivery of materials, security breaches and failure of election to hold in the identified local governments areas, wards and polling units.”

It called for a review of the use of card reader technology to improve its efficiency as well as the investigation of all acts of violence and the arraignment and prosecution of all persons that have promoted or carried out violence in this election.

Ahead of (and during) the election, the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress, whose candidates are the leading contenders, had accused each other of importing thugs to intimidate and attack voters in a bid to rig.

Source: Punch