The Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) has decried political parties agents interference and vote trading in the November 8 Anambra State governorship election.

KDI, in mid-electiom findings made available to newsmen in Akwa, said the interference and vote buying by party agents “represents a fundamental assault on the integrity of the electoral process, undermining the principles of free, fair, and credible elections.”

The KDI, in the mid-electiom statement signed by its Team Lead, Bukola Idowu, stated that failure
of INEC officials and security personnel at affected polling units to curtail these
activities raise serious concerns about enforcement of electoral guidelines and protection of voters’ rights.

“One of the most concerning
developments observed across polling units is the pervasive interference by
political party agents in the voting process.

“Our observation documentation
shows systematic violations of electoral guidelines by agents representing
primarily the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), All Progressives Congress
(APC), and Young Progressives Party (YPP).

READ ALSO:AnambraDecides: Let Every Vote Counts, Situation Room Tasks INEC

“Party agents were observed
engaging in blatant vote-buying operations, approaching voters with cash inducements ranging from ₦3,000 to ₦10,000, establishing “verification points”
where voters received payments after casting their ballots.

“These violations
represent a fundamental assault on the integrity of the electoral process, undermining the principles of free, fair, and credible elections, while the failure
of INEC officials and security personnel at affected polling units to curtail these
activities raise serious concerns about enforcement of electoral guidelines and protection of voters’ rights.”

Key Observations

The CSO said it observers in the field recorded late “commencement was due to absence of
INEC officials in some places, voters and at the instance of INEC ad-hoc officials they link this to the absence of security officials,” adding that compromise of ballot secrecy
across several polling units, and relatively efficient BVAS was also observed.

KDI said despite the huge number of security personnel deployed to the state for the election, troubling disconnect
between these figures and actual ground presence was observed.

READ ALSO: #AnambraDecides: Transport Unions Endorsement Of Soludo Could Undermine Perceptions Of Neutrality — KDI

“Our observers have documented sparse and uneven distribution of security personnel at polling units, with many locations having minimal or no visible security presence, while security forces appear concentrated at strategic locations – There were report of
security concentration in Anambra South – like Aguata but major urban centers, and semi-urban LGAs seems to have sparse. Reports show that in Awka South
LGA, Ward 19, PU-21, as at 9:57am, no security officer was seen,” it said.

On violence, KDI said it observers recorded “twenty-one (21) incidents of violence across the
over 1000 polling units observed,” adding, “these incidents involved group clashes, voter intimidation and harassment, physical assault, and ballot box snatching.”

It further said: “Of the
reported cases, seven (7) in Oyi, three (3) occurred in Ogbaru, Njikoka, and one
(1) in Anambra East, Anaocha, Nnewi North, Orunmba and Nnewi South.

“The perpetrators were identified as party agents and voters, with one incident
involving a security officer who discharged tear gas at a polling location.”

As the Anambra State governorship election enters the results collation stage, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room (Situation Room) has tasked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure every vote counts.

The Situation Room, in an Interim Statement on the election made available to newsmen in Akwa on Saturday, urged INEC to effectively manage the vote tabulation and result collation processes.

The CSO, while vowing to “follow up the process till conclusion of the election and declaration of results,” adjudged the election as relatively peaceful but with some shortcomings.

Observation

The Situation Room expressed concern that some polling units (PUs 015, 012, 013, 004 and 003) located within the RAC centre at Umuike Public Square, Ward 9, Awka South LGA, that do not require transportation failed to setup and did not commence voting until after 9:00am.

READ ALSO:PHOTOS: Low Turnout, Voter Apathy Mar Anambra Guber

The Situation Room, while stating that there was slow turnout of voters in several Polling Units (PUs), voting trading was the order of the day.

According to the Situation Room, though the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) was reported to have performed efficiently with a one-minute average turnaround time for accreditation of a voter in majority of the polling units, and poll officials displaying a somewhat good knowledge of the voting process, voting was delayed till 10:30am in PU 015 All Hallow Seminary School in Ward 9 of Onitsha North LGA due to malfunctioning of the deployed BVAS.

Situation Room said there was “no reports of any major violent incidents in this election except in PUs 001, 002 and 003 in Ward 2 of Anaocha LGA where some thugs dressed in INEC vest disrupted the voting process and denied supporters of some political parties’ access to the polling unit in favour of another party. This was immediately escalated to the Nigeria Police.”

The November 8 Anambra State governorship election has been marred by low voters turn and apathy.

In Akwa, the state capital,
some tricycle riders were also seen going about their normal businesses, just as some business owners opened their shops for businesses.

In the state capital, accreditation of voters did not start in many polling units visited by our correspondent until about 9:00am.

At Polling Unit 009, Ward 06, Akwa South Local Government Area, our correspondent observed that accreditation started at about a few minutes past 9:00am with low turnout.

READ ALSO:Only A Formidable Coalition Can Salvage Nigeria, Says Peter Obi

At Polling Unit 011, Ward 06, Akwa II, Akwa South Local Government Area, the Presiding Officer, Chiamaka Agbakoba,
told our correspondent that she started accreditation at about 9:15 am because “we were waiting for party agents to arrive, and more so there were not many voters on the ground.”

Salas Okosun, Presiding Officer, Polling Unit 018, Ward 06, Udeozo Primary School, Akwa South, said “we started accreditation exactly 9:am but voters have not been coming. As you can see, no one to capture, so we are still waiting, once it’s 2:30pm, we are done.”

Olusola Abdulsalam, Presiding Officer, Polling 017, Ward 06, Akwa II, Akwa South, said “as at 10:08, we have captured 15 voters. They have been coming out little by little.”

READ ALSO: Anambra Decides: CDD Advocates Neutrality, Seamless Process; Says Litmus Test For Amupitan

Presiding Officer, Polling Unit 023, Ward 06, Akwa II, Akwa South Local Government Area, Mercy Ezeah, said “we have captured 23 voters as at 10:37am, out of the total of 178 voters we are expecting.”

The narrative was however different in Polling Unit 007, Ward 05, as voters turned out to cast their ballots at the unit.

Speaking to our correspondent, a voter, Anene Chukwudezie, lamented that he was disenfranchised because INEC did not print his Permanent Voter Card.

He said: “I cannot vote for the candidate of my choice because INEC did not print my PVC. And it is not me alone, over 30% of voters in Ward 04, Akwa South have this same problem, with my findings, so they cannot vote. And this is why some of our people decide to sit at home.”