Group Urges Observers to Show Uncommon Courage During Election

The Priests Peace & Justice Initiative [PPJ] has urged the four hundred and twenty observers to be deployed in the March 9 elections to show an uncommon sense of courage and to see themselves as offering priestly and kingly services to the people of Nigeria.

The programme director of the Priest PPJ and the General Overseer of PPA, Dr. Otive Igbuzor stated this on Friday.

Dr Igbuzor who reflected on the state of the governorship elections said that it is only in the display of courage in the face of the tension that is being predicted by a lot of those who do not have the understanding of the wonderful work of God that was completed on the cross of Calvary that the nation’s democracy can grow as expected.

Relying on scriptural references on the role of the observers in the election he said that “elections might be seen as just earthly affairs to decide the fate of who would rule and who would be president, governor, senator, and councilor, but if you look at the injunctions in 1 Timothy 2:1-3 which mandates Christians to pray for their leaders, you will understand that elections are in the plans of God for men.”

He described the work of Pentecostal observers as that of priests and oracles who are hearing from God and giving the counsel of God to men through teaching, witnessing and evangelizing to men on the proper ways that are devoid of corrupt practices during the elections. He also explained that while in the process of observing the elections the observers are hearing from men and are offering supplication to God for peaceful, free, fair and credible elections because God plays significant roles in the affairs of men.

Quoting from Romans 5:3-5 Dr. Igbuzor asked the observers to look up to God for the courage to carry out their duties without fear saying that in the forthcoming governorship elections that are signpost already with predictions of tension and violence, “the observers must guard their hearts with divine courage and not faint from fear”

He enjoins the electorate to also join the Pentecostal observers to pray and show courage in stepping out to perform their civic duties in voting for the candidates noting that it is in voting that the democratic pillars of the country can be strengthened.

See below preliminary statement on the governorship, state assembly and F.C.T Area Council elections:

AFRICAN CENTRE FOR LEADERSHIP, STRATEGY & DEVELOPMENT (CENTRE LSD) & PALACE OF PRIESTS ASSEMBLY, PRIESTS PEACE & JUSTICE INITIATIVE (PPJ) THE SOCIAL ARM OF THE CHURCH OBSERVER GROUP’S PRELIMINARY STATEMENT ON THE GOVERNORSHIP, STATE ASSEMBLY, AND F.C.T AREA COUNCIL ELECTIONS.

Issued 12.00pm: Friday, 8th March 2019.

The final phase of the 2019 general elections holds on Saturday 9th March 2019 and following from the presidential elections, Nigerians will be in their respective polling units to vote at the state levels for governors and members of the state assemblies. Governorships elections expectedly will hold in 29 States while State Assembly elections will hold in the 36 States and the F.C.T will elect Chairmen and Councillors of the six area councils in the territory.

The election is holding within the context of a Presidential and National Assembly elections which held on February 23, 2019, amidst an electoral environment that was characterized by anxiety and nervousness. The Centre LSD and PPA Observer Group had issued two interim reports on the presidential elections where it raised concerns about the presidential election that fell far short of the standards and pledges made by the Electoral Commission as its own expectations outlined in the “Threshold Document” for credible elections issued in January 2019.

The space of two weeks since the last election has offered opportunities for reflection to take place among key stakeholders in the electoral system including INEC, the political parties, security operatives, civil society, and the electorate. Specifically, the Centre LSD and PPA Observer Group agreed that despite inherent flaws, democracy still offers the best option for the choice of leaders for governance. But it is our hope that in line with what we described as the shortcoming of the last elections all stakeholders will work for truly transparent, free, fair, and credible elections. 

We, therefore, demand for;

1. a) Improved INEC Logistics and Arrival of Materials

The late arrival of INEC materials to many polling stations in last the election showed that INEC was poorly prepared for deployment. Many of the staff engaged by the Commission showed a high level of unprofessionalism in the handling of routine duties. We expect that there has been some post-election conversation and INEC will demonstrate its readiness to meet its threshold by ensuring that the staff operates with and shows a much higher level of responsibility in the discharge of their duties.

1. b) Rapid Accreditation and Voting

There was an unusually slow pace in the simultaneous accreditation and voting process in the presidential and national assembly elections. This was also attributed to the response rate of the card readers for fingers certification. It, therefore, means that at the center of meeting the threshold of performance is the card reader. We expect therefore that INEC would have taken time to check and resolve the crisis of the card readers before the governorship and state’s house of assembly elections.

1. c) Increased Turnout of voters

The electorate performed creditably as they turned out in their huge numbers to vote in the presidential and national assembly. Certainly, there seems to be some effectiveness in the voter’s education programme for the 2019 election. There were however allegations of underage voting in some polling units. We demand that INEC should get to the root of this blight on the electoral process, prosecute fraudulent acts carried out during the election and use those examples to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to undermine the electoral process.

1. d) Sustenance of the Secrecy of the Ballot

The hallmark of the credibility of an election is the extent to which the ballot remains secret to individual voters. Whereas INEC made provision for the secrecy of the voting process by providing voting cubicles, the party agents did not help the process. They were willingly guiding and aiding the aged and the uneducated on how to thumbprint. The reason was to avoid void and invalid votes. No case of vote buying was seen within the voting environment. Party agents should refrain from removing the privacy of the voting process.

1. e) Enhanced & Non-Partisan Security of the Election

Perhaps the greatest threat to the credibility of the 2019 elections is the issue of security. Although the Chief of Army Staff has said that the military operated within its constitutional limits, the presence of the army during the election was intimidating and became a source of fear which caused many electorates to stay away from the polling units. The election is a purely civil affair and should in no way be militarized but be left to the police and other civil security personnel. We demand that the army should also be less partisan even if they are called upon by INEC to provide support services under any circumstances.  

1. f) Resolution of Issue with the Card Reader.

We note with a sense of pride the insistence by INEC that there will be no elections without the use of the Card Readers. Although this statement brings so much relief, we hope that INEC has been able to successfully resolve the numerous reports of the Card Readers failure. There is also a high incidence of voided votes arising from the malfunctioning of the card readers. The failure of the card readers is symptomatic of the failure of INEC. The Commission must, therefore, act to forestall the failure of the card reader and by extension its own failure.

1. g) High Sense of Responsibility from Political Parties.

We note with concern that much of the violence associated with the election is perpetuated by political parties who would want to win at all cost. Winning at all cost is a huge cost for the democratic process because in the end nobody really wins. We implore all political parties and their agents to desist from turning the elections and election grounds into theatres of war and contest for supremacy in arms and thugs but to be responsible for the duty of vigilant observations assigned to them.

Conclusion: We expect that INEC has in the past two weeks learned valuable lessons from the presidential and national assembly elections and it is our belief that key stakeholders in the electoral process have done the same. Therefore, the governorship and houses of assembly election should be organized and prosecuted to be a model for a transparent, free, fair and credible election in Nigeria.

Tive Denedo,

Programme Manager,

Priests Peace & Justice Initiative,