ELECTION REPORTING
Through the Eyes of an
Election Observer
By Temitayo Famutimi
R
R
ichard is an accomplished
Lagos-based realtor. He
travelled to his village in
Aniocha North Local Government
Area, Delta State ahead of the February
16 presidential election. Excited, he
hardly slept throughout the night of
February 15. He got out of bed at dawn
to hear the shocking news; barely
five hours to the commencement of
the election, the electoral umpire had
postponed the exercise by a week.
Richard was disappointed by the shift
in elections. Nevertheless, he extended
his stay in the village by an extra three
weeks to ensure his participation in
both the delayed presidential vote and
the upcoming gubernatorial election.
“I have consistently voted since Nigeria
returned to civilian rule in 1999. This
year won’t be an exception”, he told me.
Richard is one of the many patriotic
Nigerians who travelled across the
country to take part in the election. In
fact, there were reports of Nigerians
who returned to the country from
North America, Europe, and Asia to
participate in the elections.
Filled with zeal and a consummate
passion to let their voices be heard,
Richard and a couple of other villagers
arrived at the polling unit as early as
6:30 a.m. However, electoral materials
and officials didn’t arrive until 8:15 a.m.
Voting eventually started around 9:10
a.m.
In Asaba, the Delta State capital, voting
did not start in a couple of places until
11 a.m. At the Uzoigwe Primary School,
a Registration Area Centre housing
over a dozen polling units, hundreds
of voters were disappointed by the late
start of voting.
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CROSSROADS |
April/May 2019
Numerous card readers were not
working. Scores of agitated voters, both
young and hold, were seen seeking out
domestic and international observers
to express their dissatisfaction. One
gentleman with whom our team spoke,
yelled “No one is leaving until we all
vote.”
Determined to exercise their franchise,
a broad section of the citizenry across
the country fought tooth and nail to
cast their ballots.
Despite the late opening of polls, which
marred the first leg of the 2019 general
elections, Nigerians underscored the
importance of the gubernatorial and
state-level legislative elections by a
slight increase in voter turnout as
compared to the presidential election.
State governments are seen as the
tier of government that enact policies
which impact the daily lives of citizens
the most.
In one of the polling units in Sagamu
LGA of Ogun State, voters grabbed
chairs from a nearby elementary
school and sat in long lines. They were
all armed with umbrellas for protection
from the scorching hot sun.
The atmosphere was generally calm but
with a notable security presence. With
the gubernatorial election fiercely
contested in the state, the role of
traditional leaders in maintaining the
peace became imperative.
Our team learnt that prominent
traditional leaders held town
hall meetings with their subjects
urging them to collaborate with
the Independent National Electoral
Commission and the police to keep the
peace.
Two days to the gubernatorial election,
the traditional leaders in Sagamu
were said to have performed a series
of rituals that successfully scared
off miscreants, potential ballot box
snatchers and troublemakers.
At a polling unit in Ikenne Local
Government Area in Ogun State, one
of the assistant polling officers was
seen assisting an octogenarian man just
after performing his civic duty. It was
observed that pregnant women and
persons living with disabilities were
given priority to vote across several
polling units.
However, there were still significant
impediments to voting for persons
living with disabilities and the aged, as
many polling units remain inaccessible
to these categories of voters. Braille
ballot papers and magnifying glasses
were absent in several polling units I
observed in Ogun and Delta states.
The violence recorded during the
recent elections is unacceptable for
a civilized country and should be
condemned. Moreover, as the 2019
electoral season winds down, there is
a need for a comprehensive review of
how elections are conducted. From the
logistical requirements, the training of
election workers, the reliance on paper
ballots to the security architecture,
every detail must be examined. It
would also be useful for the electoral
management body to review informed
recommendations from credible
domestic and international observer
groups in order to improve the
framework for the conduct of future
elections. Nigeria cannot permit a
repeat of the inadequacies of the 2019
election cycle to occur again.