The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), a coalition of civil society organizations has ruled that the execution of the gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on Saturday were largely in sync with ethical conducts.
TMG deployed a number of citizen observers to all three states to provide accurate and timely information on the conduct of the elections in real time.
The Group also set up an Election Situation Analysis Centre (ESAC) that used advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) to receive, process analyse reports from the citizen observers in the three states.
According to TMG preliminary report, the accreditation process went smoothly in all three states, without glitches, however, the polling process in the states began at a slow pace, with most polling units opening between 8:30 am and 9:00 am.
The Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which identifies and accredits voters through fingerprints and facial recognition, was adequately deployed and functional across polling units in the I
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TMG, which is chaired by Auwal Rafsanjani, pointed out that the INEC officials made available assistive materials such as magnifying lenses for the visually impaired. However, most polling units lacked ramps for ease of movement for the physically challenged.
The report went on to say that security personnel, including members of the Nigeria Police, NSCDC, EFCC, NDLEA, FRSC, Nigerian Immigration Service and Nigeria Correctional Service all conducted themselves professionally at various polling units across the three states.
Like most elections in the past, the off-cycle elections in Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi were not without their glitches. The observers noted that poor weather conditions, difficult terrain and logistics issues led to low turnouts across polling units in Bayelsa.
The observers further reported isolated incidents of violence in a few polling units across the states, including reports of political thugs being killed by the military.
Despite the prohibition of vote trading in the Electoral Act of 2022, observers from TMG witnessed several instances of voter inducement. The observers reported the distribution of cash gifts ranging from N5,000 to N30,000, food items and clothing materials in some polling units.
Despite the reported incidents of vote trading and actions of thugs at some polling units, the TMG team, led by Mr Rafsanjani, ruled that the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states elections were largely successful and commends the efforts of INEC, security agencies and the citizens.
