As Nigerians await the result of the Presidential election, more worries are sitting in the hearts of many. It is the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that is in the eye of the issues people are raising.
When elections started on Saturday, February 25, one could conclude in a rush that everything was going well.
However, that is not the case. The process seems to have missed its route along the line.
A prominent human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has joined the number of Nigerians speaking out about the result collation process.
He is questioning the credibility of the presidential and National Assembly elections.
Also, he is accusing security personnel, electoral staff and state governors of undermining the process.
“I’ve not been impressed by the very disappointing outing on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission,” Falana said during an exclusive interview with Channels Television.
Compromise, Thuggery And Impunity
“Nigerians’ had been assured they were going to have a credible election – a peaceful election – whereby votes would count.
“Regrettably, there was a free rein of thuggery; thugs took over in many places.
“There was a compromise on the part of the security forces.
“There was a compromise on the part of some INEC chiefs and there was impunity on the part of some governors.
“As our courts would say; they are the substantial compliance with the Electoral Act because you could isolate where you had pockets of illegality, pockets of violence,” he said.
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In Falana’s view, INEC should go back to the drawing board, look into the management of the elections and the role of its ad-hoc staff.
According to him, the violators include those “arrested by the police or other security agencies for disrupting the election, for announcing fake results or for forging results and for deliberately preventing people from voting”.
Falana stated that prosecution of electoral offenders would ensure the officers charged with managing the next elections would know that “it’s not going to be business as usual”.
