2023 Presidential and NASS Elections: WANEP-Nigeria Calls for Peace
With results for both the Presidential and National Assemblies (NASS) anounced, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding- Nigeria (WANEP-Nigeria) has called on Nigerians to toe the path of peace irrespective of perceived lack of transparency and trust in the system to avoid violence.This call was contained in a Press Statement made available to newsmen by WANEP's Head of Program - Mrs. Patience Ikpeh-Obaulo.
The statement had it that despite the signing of two Peace Accords by candidates of the political parties competing in the elections, committing fully to supporting all efforts that will ensure a peaceful transition, pre -electoral violence had continued to bedevil the country. Among its most worrisome manifestations were the attacks on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which clearly aim to undermine the electoral process itself. In Kano, Enugu and Ebonyi States pre- electoral violence had left 15 reportedly killed by unknown gunmen two days to the elections with the Nigerian Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) committing to deploying massive personnel across the country to avert threats of violence that could impact the peaceful conduct of elections. The elections took place amidst general insecurity in the Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and South-South geopolitical zones.
"According to the Statement, "on 25 February 2023, Nigeria held the Presidential and National Assembly elections. This was the seventh successive general elections since the return to multiparty democracy in 1999. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in preparation for the elections, among the key reforms in the Electoral Act, 2022 included the conduct of early primaries by political parties, introduction of the Bi- Modal Voters Accreditation System (BIVAs) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to ensure the integrity and credibility of the elections.
"To further enhance the process, amongst the 93.4 million registered voters, 9.5 million voters were registered ahead of the 2023 elections of whom two- third were young persons and 47.5% were women. This marked an 11.3% increase from the 84,004,084 voters recorded in the 2019 general elections. Other provisions by INEC included the training of technical personnel and provision of logistics to ensure smooth outcome of the elections.
"However. the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding Nigeria (WANEP- Nigeria) on behalf of its over 250 member organizations spread across the six geo -political zones wish to express deep concern over the conduct of the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections conducted across the 36 states in the country. WANEP–Nigeria, a network established to provide an organized platform for collaborative peacebuilding in Nigeria by indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations working in the area of conflict, peace and security implores the government to take urgent action to douse the tensions building up due to citizens dissatisfaction of the conduct of the general elections with pocket of protests being witnessed in Abuja and other parts of the country.
"As contribution towards ensuring credible and violence free elections, WANEP- Nigeria created a Social Media Platform and Organized a Virtual Election Situation Room on February 25, 2023. The situation room comprised of 12 conflict analysts linking with over 500 domestic observers across the 36 states of the federation. The analysts and observers gave real time incidence reports and situation updates of the election. The observations and situational updates on electoral violence in the over 900 electoral wards comprising of different polling units during the voting process has generated lots of tension.
"The main objective of Virtual Election Situation Room was to monitor the elections and ensure impartial assessment of the electoral process. The analysts and observers engaged with key stakeholders including INEC officials, security agencies, party agents, international observers, civil society organisations, the media and voters among others to get situational updates at the different polling units across the country.
"We use this platform to call on all stakeholders to intervene proactively to calm all tension and avoid any form of violence as the electoral processes continue with the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections.
In a bid to improving future electors processes, WANEP called on the Federal Government to uphold peace and rule of law throughout the electoral process – pre, during and post elections; and to implement the 35% affirmative action in the electoral system for women and introduce 20% for persons living with disabilities and youth. Such measures would allow for an inclusive approach to the democratic process.
The peacebuilding network organization also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to review the electoral logistics operations strategy to ensure sufficient training of ad-hoc officers to enable them to understand and effectively operate the electronic voting machines; to ensure timely deployment of adequate electoral material and personnel as well as ensure optimal server connections during voting time; to review voting time with a view to increasing it beyond the currently designated six hours (8:30 am to 2:30 pm). It is anticipated that such an amendment will encourage greater participation and address the issue of disenfranchisement of voters; to notify affected voters and electoral officers of newly created polling units to ensure timely identification and commencement of voting exercises; to regulate the number of BIVAs machines deployed at each polling unit to match the number of voters; and to eview the ballot papers to ensure uniformity and that all contesting political parties logos are documented accordingly to minimize election malpractices.
WANEP also called on the Nigerian Police, the Nigeria Civil Defense Corps and other security agencies to coordinate activities towards promoting civil-security relationship to forestall violence at polling units.
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Thank you WANEP