Introduction
CLEEN Foundation
observed the 26 November, 2016 Governorship election in Ondo state, with
specific focus on the security dimensions of the election. The mission was in
furtherance of a series of interventions earlier made by the organization to
enhance electoral security in the state. Such interventions included the
deployment of CLEEN Foundation and INEC Electoral Institute Election Violence
Mitigation Tool (EVMT), the conduct and release of a comprehensive report on
Security Threat Assessment (STA) for the election and the training of senior
police officers, including all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area
Commanders across the 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state on election
security management. As it has turned out, happenings across the 18 LGAs have
largely validated the STA report; the same way all the interventions have
positively impacted the electoral landscape in general and electoral security
management in particular.
In this report,
we present key findings from the reports of our observers, given that our
primary focus was on electoral security management, greater attention is paid
to issues in the deployment and conduct of security agents in the election.
Methodology
CLEEN Foundation
deployed observers across the 18 LGAs of the state. Each LGA has one stationary
observer, with a checklist containing important questions about the deployment
and conduct of security agents during the election. These were in addition to
two other roving observers, whose activities cover at least three LGAs each.
These were complemented with information sharing among partner organisations in
the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room for the Ondo election under the
coordination of the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC).
Political Background
The race for the 2016 governorship
election in Ondo state was highly competitive but tendentious. Many factors
could have been responsible to this. First, the dramatis personae in the 2012 governorship election remained key
players in 2016. The incumbent Governor Olusegun Mimiko, a two-termer, did
notconceal his strong preference for Eyitayo Jegede over all other contenders
within his party. Rotimi Akeredolu, the APC candidate, was also the candidate
of ACN in 2012. Olusola Oke, one of those who contested the primary on the
platform of APC, but lost out and defected to pick the ticket for the AD, wasthe
PDP candidate in the 2012 election. Contestations over the processes and
outcomes of party primaries and candidate selection generated considerable
intra and inter-party tensions and conflict. Second, the internal schism within
the PDP at the national level only served to complicate matters. The two
competing national executives of the party conducted parallel primaries and
produced candidates for the election. While Jegede emerged from the Ahmed
Markarfi faction, Jimoh Ibrahim emerged from the platform of Alli Modu Sherrif.
Third, the attendant litigations and counter litigations came with their own
complications. Above all else, the exclusion of Eyitayo Jegede from the
election by INEC, until a few days to the election, when the Supreme Court
ruled to the contrary, was generally seen as a major source of election
security threat. Before the Supreme Court ruling, there were pockets of
protests across the state; there were also protests and demands for the
postponement of the election, especially from the PDP. These and related
factors heightened the political temperature of the state before the election.
General Observations
The
administration of the 2016 governorship election in Ondo state will go down as
one of the most effective in recent times. The main defining elements of the
election include its overall peacefulness, good organization, including timely
deployment of electoral materials and officers, adequate electoral security
management, timely collation and release of results, among others. More
specifically, CLEEN Foundation’s observers found:
Ø Early deployment
of electoral materials and personnel, as well as early opening of pooling
centres and commencement of voting in most polling units covered in the state;
Ø Orderly
organization of polling units, including
appropriate placement of voting points in a way that guarantees independence of
choice, openness and transparency;
Ø Professionalism
on the part of electoral officers, including substantial improvement in the
handling of electoral processes and procedures by adhoc staff of INEC;
Ø Substantial
improvement in the level of coordination and communication between/among
different stakeholders -political
parties, security agencies, electoral officers- in handling and resolving
contentious issues;
Ø The deployment
of technical assistants from INEC’s headquarters to attend swiftly to
challenges emanating from the use of Smart Card Readers;
Ø Timely collation
and release of results at all levels -Polling units (PUs), registration areas
(Wards), LGAs and state level;
Ø Overall
improvement in dealing with the challenges of electoral logistics, including
transportation and deployment of materials and officers. This has usually been
a major source of concern in previous elections;
Ø Drastic
reduction in the level of electoral violence compared to previous elections;
Ø Substantial
compliance with the legal frameworks governing the administration of the
election, including simultaneous accreditation and voting.
Despite these
advances, however, our observers also reported some negative dimensions of the
election, namely:
Ø Malfunctioning
of Smart Card Readers (SCRs) in some Pus, which made accreditation difficult, slow
and/or impossible in some Pus;
Ø Attempts at vote
buying by party agents and/or chieftains who were seen distributing money in
order to influence the direction of voting;
Ø Pockets of
electoral violence, including snatching of electoral materials such as SCRs
and ballot papers;
Ø Low level of
voters turnout in most of the Pus visited;
Security Agencies and Election Security
Election security
management is pivotal for the promotion of election integrity by engendering
political competition, participation and legitimacy and vice versa.
Our observers found that the adequate provision of election security by
security agencies largely explains the substantial improvement in the
effectiveness of the administration of the 2016 Ondo governorship election. Security
agents were found to have demonstrated exemplary professionalism that has been
missing in previous elections. In particular, security agencies were found to
have excelled in the following ways:
Ø
Timely
deployment of security agents to PUs, RAs, collation centres and INEC offices across
the 18 LGAs of the state. It was found in 33.3%, 56.6% and 11.1% of the PUs
covered by our observers, security agents arrived before 7.00am, 7 - 7.59am and
8 - 8.59am respectively.
Ø
Deployment
was also found to be adequate, defined mainly in terms of number of security
agents per PUs. Specifically, a minimum of two (2) or three (3) or more
security agents were found in 11.1% and 88.9% of PUs visited by our observers
respectively.
Ø
In
addition to the above, our observers found security agents to either be very
adequate or adequate in 38.9% and 61.9% of the PUs they visited respectively.
Ø
Exemplary
professionalism of security agents, including unusual politeness in relating
with voters and electoral officers. For example, our observers found security
agents to be very approachable and approachable in 66.7% and 33.3% of the PUs
they covered respectively. It is also gratifying that security agents did not
leave their duty post at anytime in 94.4% of the PUs visited, but did so in
5.6% others. Moreover, security agents were found to be following instructions
given by the presiding officers in all (100%) of the PUs visited by our
observers.
Ø
Sufficient
demonstration of neutrality and impartiality across most PUs visited by our observers.
Specifically, security agents were found to be very impartial and impartial in
61.1% and 33.9% of visited PUs respectively.
Ø
Discernible
improvement in the level of inter-agency collaboration among security agencies
during the elections. The Police, Civil Defence and a few others were seen
working together harmoniously;
Ø
Prompt
response to distress calls, as was the case in PU 005, Ward 3, Akoko South East
LGA where thugs had hijacked SCR and ballot papers. The DPO quickly reacted by
leading his men, in the company of INEC’s Electoral Officer for the LGA and
supervisor from Akure;
Ø
Resort
to aerial surveillance through the use of helicopters that flew round the LGAs
during the election. This, together with other improvements, enhances people’s
feeling of safety and security during the election. People felt very safe and
secure, safe and secure and somewhat safe and secure in 50%, 44.4% and 5.6% of
the PUs visited by our observers.
Ø
Provision
of escort for the deployment of electoral materials and officers;
Ø
Overall,
the performance of security agents in the Ondo election was found to be very
good in 61.1%; good in 33.3% and fair in 5.6% of the PUs visited by CLEEN Foundation’s
observers.
There were also some unhelpful trends in
the deployment and conduct of security agents:
Ø
A
few cases of professional misconduct were reported by our observers. These
include collection of ‘brown envelop’ from party agents and/or chieftains,
drunkenness and inappropriate dressing;
Ø
The
welfare question again was very prominent as many security agents reportedly
complained about their deployment without attention to their feeding and
related allowances. Many of them resorted begging for money to eat;
Ø
Poor
response to some cases, particularly vote buying by party agents on the day of
the election;
Recommendations
CLEEN Foundation is generally pleased
and satisfied with the high level of professionalism, competence and general
capacity demonstrated by INEC, political parties, security agencies, civil
society organizations (CSOs), the electorate and related stakeholders in the
administration of the 2016 Ondo election. The electoral processes and outcomes
would appear to enjoy broad acceptability nationally and internationally.
Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement. With respect to election
security, our primary focus, CLEEN Foundation considers the following
recommendations as pertinent:
Ø
There
is need to pay more attention to the welfare needs of security agents so as to
get them fully motivated and committed to the tasks of electoral security;
Ø
All
security agents deployed for election duties should be made to sign and oath of
allegiance to some ethical codes of conduct the violation of which would
attract severe penalty;
Ø
More
professional and periodic training for security agents on the theory and
practice of election security.
We commend the efforts of INEC, the Police
and other security agencies for their outstanding performance towards ensuring
that the Ondo gubernatorial election was peaceful and successful;
We
also congratulate the people of Ondo State for their peaceful conduct during
the election and after the release of the results;
0 comments:
Post a Comment