CDD expresses fear over likely high post election litigations

By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja

The Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD, has expressed the fear that post-election litigations, arising from the recently conducted elections in the country, may lead to high rate of judicially declared poll winners.

This was revealed in the CDD Election Analysis Centre (EAC), CDD-EAC post election report presented at press conference, addressed on Monday by the Chair of the CDD EAC, Prof. Adele Jinadu and Director, Idayat Hassan in Abuja.

The organisation expressed concern that post-election litigations may, lead to judicially declared poll winners.

The CDD, which disclosed that it deployed 1, 200 observers to keep a close watch on the process, explained that the step provided insights deduced from the treasure trove of data it collected during the polls.

The CDD-EAC maintained that with the scale of violence as seen in the recent elections, a wave of post-election litigations was likely.

The organization warned that the situation could result in courts determining the legality of the election mandates secured.

“This has the added effect of seeing courts have a role in determining ‘elected’ officials, further undermining voters’ sense that their vote is valued and has an impact on the outcome of an election process,” the CDD report said.

The CDD observed with sadness that Saturday’s governorship and state houses of assembly elections were characterized by incidents of vote buying, violence and intimidation.

Both Jinadu and Hassan expressed concerns that the improved conduct of the governorship and houses of assembly elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been undermined by the combination of violence, vote buying, online and offline intimidation of voters, disinformation and decreased citizens trust in INEC.

The CDD said that despite INECs improved performance during these elections, the perceived questionable credibility of the conduct of presidential and National Assembly polls in the minds of many voters has shaped how Nigerians viewed the 18 March process and their engagement in it.

According to the group, diminished trust in INEC as an institution will shape wider perceptions when it comes to the acceptance of the results returned, particularly in races where a narrow margin of victory is recorded or where presidential results are not replicated at the sub-national level.

The CDD, in the post-election analysis, equally made reference to the mind boggling violence, which affected the elections.

The CDD reported that its data showed that violence occurred in 10.8 percent of polling units (PUs) observed.

It said that voter suppression, voter intimidation and the destruction or theft of election materials predominantly by political party agents and politically aligned thugs was recorded across all six geopolitical zones.

It said, “10.8 percent of observed PUs recorded violence and/or fighting, this was most pronounced in the northwest (19.9 percent) and south-south (11.6 percent) geopolitical zones with Bayelsa and Zamfara the two states with the most incidents recorded by our observers,” the report said.