Deploy reliable administrative secretaries, others to high-risk states – CSOs tell INEC
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deploy trusted, incorruptible and experienced administrative secretaries to high risks Election irregularities states.
They made the call while briefing newsmen on the first iteration report, on the Election Manipulation Risk Index (EMRI), on Friday in Abuja.
The CSOs include: International Press Centre, Institute for Media and Society, Partners for Electoral Reform, The Albino Foundation, The Kukah Centre and Enough is Enough Nigeria.
Others are :Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, SBM Intelligence, Dataphye and Yiaga Africa.
The group also urged INEC to deploy experienced heads of ICT and Operations, to such high risks states.
The CSOs said the call became imperative against the backdrop of its finding in its first EMRI iteration report.
They said that the EMRI focused on six variables for tracking election manipulation namely; INEC Capture, manipulation of the voter register and voter suppression
Others are, resistance to the election technology, especially BVAS and IReV, history of election manipulation and election litigation.
“Election Manipulation risks are high in 22 states of the Federation. The states are classified as high-risk due to the presence of more than three EMRI variables.
“The states include Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Bauchi, Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Jigawa.
“EMRI reveals 12 states with medium election manipulation risks. The states include Borno, Yobe, Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi, Zamfara, Kebbi, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Bayelsa and Cross River.
“Three states are classified as low risk. They include Gombe, Ondo and the Federal Capital Territory,” the report stated.
The group which listed some risk mitigation measures added that intense scrutiny of applications for ad-hoc personnel must be carried out, while competency test must be written by applicants.
The group also recommended that voters register must be cleaned up to remove multiple registrants, fictitious names and under-aged registrants.
They added that enhanced monitoring and oversight of INEC officials managing the PVC collection process should be carried out to prevent manipulation and deliberate denial from issuing PVCs.
They also called on the Nigerian Bar Association should take disciplinary actions against legal practitioners engaged in election manipulation using the judicial process.
