By Danladi Ahmed
The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has described attempts being made by some civil society groups to denigrate the outcome of the Edo State Gubernatorial election as a partisan hatchet job not backed by facts.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju, IMPI noted that claims made by the coalition were a carbon copy of the position of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the election process.
It said: ” We have observed the desperate move by the coalition of civil society groups to cast aspersions on the outcome of the 2024 Edo State off-cycle gubernatorial election by tagging collation of results as not transparent. We totally reject their claim.
“We are, especially, at odd with the undisguised partisanship expressed in the publicly circulated statement by the coalition of the civil society groups to denigrate the electoral process which, indeed, is an amplification of the unfounded allegations of electoral process compromise made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“We do not consider this self-righteous intervention by the coalition of civil society groups as motivated by public interest or as objective arbiters in the concluded electoral matters. We, therefore, urge these groups to be circumspect in the way they leverage their clout to traduce the Edo gubernatorial election outcome with obvious intent at serving narrow partisan interests. This is against the time tested civil society’s public interest code of moderating and facilitating, in an equitable manner, the peaceful development and sustenance of a society.
“After we reviewed the content of the statement issued by the coalition of the six civil society groups, the clear impression we got is that of the voice of Jacob and the hand of Esau.
“The various allegations of electoral malfeasance itemised against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as they relate to reports of disruptions of collation of votes count at collation centres and attempts to collate results against electoral provisions are the same positions canvassed by the PDP. So also, the curious accusation of intimidating INEC officials is part of the omnibus allegations made by the leadership of PDP’s Edo State Gubernatorial Council at the different press conferences it held during the course of the election but strangely captured in the statement issued by the coalition of the the civil society groups.
“We consider this disappointing because the coalition is expected to serve a higher calling than the nebulous generalisation of the events of the election that it attempted to choreograph pursuant to an agenda to denigrate the Edo State gubernatorial election process in the minds of the larger Nigerian public. Their sole aim is to present the election as one that was compromised and violent, a claim that is spurious.
“From our standpoint, these claims do not tally with the reality of the conduct of the election as reported by accredited monitors and observers deployed by the Independent Media and Policy Initiative and other observers that monitored the same election.
“As a matter of fact, the consensus of voters and groups of observers and monitors deployed throughout the state was that the peace and calm that characterised the election from the commencement to the conclusion of voting was contrary to the statewide expectations of violence that had gripped people in the state in the run up to the election”
The policy group also dismissed allegations of partisanship against the security agencies, especially the Police as baseless.
According to IMPI, the police team led by Mr Frank Mba, a Deputy Inspector General, did a great job devoid of bias.
“Concerning the conduct of personnel of security agencies raised by the coalition, our team of monitors and observers found reasonable causes to commend the comportment of security personnel at polling units and collation centres.
“We specially commend officers and men of the police force for providing an all- inclusive coverage for officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at ward, local government area, and state collation centres.
“Our onsite participants’ observation of goings-on during the collation at different centres put the lies to claims by the CSOs that only members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were allowed unfettered access to the collation. We assert that this allegation is baseless and untrue and should not be made by any self respecting group.
“Indeed, we attest to the fact that the collation of results of the governorship election was disrupted on Sunday at Oredo and Ikpoba/Okha local government area collation centre when observers and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were tear-gassed by security personnel.
“Election Observers that witnessed this incident reported that it was as a result of some PDP stalwarts’ violent attempt to access the collation centres.
“In fact, we can report that while the incumbent Governor of the State, Mr Godwin Obaseki, easily accessed the office of the State’s INEC, the leadership of the APC that included its National Secretary were stopped from gaining entrance into the same office by very stern looking security personnel. This led to the uproar against Obaseki’s privileged access to the office.
“To restore the balance of sensibility, Deputy Inspector General Frank Mba had to drive down to the INEC’s office to ask the Governor to leave because he was in breach of the law by literally occupying the INEC’s office with obvious intent to intimidate officials with his presence.
“In addition, we can affirm that some politicians, obviously in realisation of their party losing the election, made desperate efforts to create a stampede situation around the State’s collation centre by inciting some people to violence but the move was soon jettisoned for lack of enthusiasm by the same people that were mobilised to the centre.
“On a general note, may we appeal to all interested parties in the matter of the Edo State gubernatorial election to moderate their bitterness and conflict from the outcome of the election, even if it is only to depart from the tradition of unfounded outcry and bickering that normally attend the conclusion of electoral contests in Nigeria,” IMPI added.
