Only 8.2% Rated Presidential/NASS Elections Poorly, NBA Survey Shows
POLITICS DIGEST- Despite the belief in some quarters that last Saturday’s presidential and National Assembly elections were grossly flawed, only about 8.2 percent of Nigerians nurture such belief.
According to a survey conducted by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), over 64 percent of Nigerians were satisfied with the conduct and outcome of the election.
“Generally, findings from the observation process indicated that only a quarter of the electorate were excellently impressed with the conduct of the ballots (27.1%) while majority of the voters (64.6%) were somewhat satisfied, only 8.2% rated the election poor or very poor,” a statement by Akorede Habeeb Lawal, the
National Publicity Secretary of NBA, read in part.
The NBA boss, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN, had in January constituted the NBA Election Working Group (NBA-EWG), chaired by Mrs. Linda Rose Bala, the 1st Vice President of the NBA.
“The NBA-EWG eventually deployed over 1000 INEC accredited observers drawn from the 128 Branches of the NBA. These lawyers-observers observed the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections which held on 25th February, 2023 and which continued in some parts of the country until 26th February, 2023.
“The NBA-EWG’s observation of the electoral process continued until the final collations and declarations of the results. The NBA President, Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, SAN was also physically present to lead the observations of the elections in FCT, Abuja.
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“Aside the toll-free lines and NBA social media handles, the NBA-EWG for the first time utilised online forms and analytics tools to collect real-time data from the field during the elections process. This application can identify the geo-location of the observer. With this, reports received in pictorial or video forms were verifiable and confirmed using the app’s features.
“Also, the NBA President set up the NBA 2023 Election Situation Room at the NBA Headquarters to receive and harmonise reports of the NBA Election Observers from across the country on the conduct of the 2023 General Elections.
“In the main, the NBA Observers expressed some satisfaction with the conduct of the election on 25th February, 2023 but have also identified major challenges that should be addressed for future elections. These include the late arrival of INEC officials and ballot materials at the polling stations, malfunctioning BVAS machines, limited or non-transmission of the results from the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV), insecurity at some polling units including violent attacks on voters and officials, voter intimidation, snatching and destruction of voting materials, significant cases of vote-buying and limited access facilities for persons living with disabilities,” the statement read in part.
On the upcoming gubernatorial and states houses of assembly elections, the NBA urged INEC to ensure that all bugs or glitches in the BVAS machines and other election technology are fixed “and improved and that INEC staff (including collation and returning officers) with proven cases of misconduct in the 25th of February, 2023 election be excluded from the 11th March, 2023 election.”
The Inspector General of Police was also urged to ensure the timely deployment of police officers on duty for the 11th March 2023 Elections while political parties were equally advised to educate their members and supporters on the need to eschew all forms of actions in violation of the Electoral Act.
While the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was declared winner of the presidential election, at least three of the opposition parties have condemned the process and have gone to court to challenge the outcome.
