International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law is a leading human rights organization from the
Southeast of Nigeria headquartered in Onitsha, Anambra State. Formed in 2008,
we work on: civil liberties & rule of law, democracy & good
governance and security & safety.
This is the concluding part of our facts boggling
letter to the leading members of the International Community, namely: the Holy
Father, Pope Francis through his Apostolic Nuncio in Nigeria and the UN
Secretary General through his Special Representative in Nigeria, Mohammed Ibin
Chambas. Others are the High Commissioners of Britain, Australia, Canada and India
in Nigeria as well as the Ambassadors of the United States of America, Federal
Republic of Germany, Republic of France, Brazil, Japan, China and the Head of
Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria & ECOWAS.
Below is the continuation of our findings as well as our recommendations
and conclusion.
7. Further Findings: (e) High rate and incidence of under-age voting
population in the North condoned by INEC. (f) Prevalence of
discriminatory policies in INEC whereby stringent and strict policies like adhering
to biometrics processes and ward level collection of PVCs are enforced
to the letter in the South, whereas in the North, they are lowered in the guise
of “high illiteracy level” considerations. (g) Use of violence including
mob action and other life threatening conducts to break electoral and voting
guidelines in the North particularly during voting and their tolerance by INEC.
(h) Possible distribution of PVCs by proxies (i.e. district
heads & Emirs) in the North leading to high percentage distribution
(evacuation) and recipients of the PVCs in the areas particularly in the
troubled Northeast States of Bauchi, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba and
insistence by INEC on stringent collection of PVCs and voting
procedures in the South.
(i) Random and arbitrary deletion of over 4million so
called “double registrants” leading to their disenfranchisement and
disqualification from voting in the crucial February 2015 Presidential Poll and
non registration of millions of eligible adults during voters registration
exercises particularly in the South. (j) Incessancy of “missing names”
and “data loss” in the INEC’s National Register of Voters leading to
disenfranchisement of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of registered Nigerian
voters. (k) Failure of INEC to issue PVCs to recently registered
voters leading to their disenfranchisement from the referenced crucial polls. (l)
Failure of INEC to dutifully carry out Voters’ Cards Transfer
including deletion of successful applicants’ previous data in accordance with
Section 13 (4) of the Electoral Act of 2010; leading to disenfranchisement of
millions of Nigerian registered voters tagged “double registrants”. (m) Inconsistencies
in INEC’s data figures with regard to total and actual number of registered
voters in Nigeria including those captured in the Commission’s continuous
voters registration and re-validation exercises leading to consistent
issuance of conflicting figures to Nigerians and other electoral
stakeholders.
(n) Serious suspicion of high wired scheming by INEC
headship to use demographic data manipulations to manipulate the February 2015
Presidential Poll for the Northern Muslims as can be seen in its recent PVCs
distribution in the North particularly in the troubled Northeast where the
number of PVCs distributed in five States of Bauchi, Adamawa,
Taraba, Gombe and Yobe is 4, 886, 499 (four million, eight
hundred & eight six thousand, four hundred & ninety nine)as against 3,
944, 242 (three million, nine hundred & forty four thousand, two hundred
& forty two) distributed in the entire five peaceful States of the
Southeast (Anambra, Imo, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi); whereby the PVCs distributed
in Bauchi State alone (1, 502, 609) almost equals that of Anambra and Imo
States put together ( 1, 544, 793) as at 13th January 2015.
8.Calls/Recommendations: Your Excellencies are hereby called upon to: (a) Demand
firmly that INEC should publicly publish comprehensive updates as a matter of
uttermost immediacy, of the State- by- State and geopolitical zonal breakdown
of total number of registered voters and the PVCs allocation across the
country as of date.
(b) Demand firmly that the
above should be done weekly until the day of the referenced polls.
(c) Demand firmly that INEC
should deploy immediately its ad hoc staff for the referenced polls, which it
said are over 750, 000, all over the country and in its entire 120, 000 polling
units across the country for the purpose of massive distribution of PVCs
by way of taking them to their owners’ homes and subjecting same to delivery
on identification.
(d) Demand firmly that INEC
should update Nigerians and the world on the true status of unproduced and
undelivered PVCs numbering 14, 491, 866 or 10, 491, 866 (according to
INEC’s latest claim yet to be independently verified), as in how possible is it
for the Commission to get them from its contractors and have same distributed,
barely sixteen days to the referenced polls.
(e) Demand firmly that INEC
should explain to Nigerians and the world the status of millions of newly
registered voters including those registered in 2014 majorly located in the
South, who, till date, have not received their PVCs. When will their PVCs
arrive and be given owing to the fact that there are only sixteen days to
the referenced polls?
(f) Demand firmly that INEC
should make public with State- by -State breakdown of the final number of those
that will vote in the referenced polls with respect to those that have received
PVCs as well as the number of uncollected PVCs and those not
given and the number of PVCs not delivered to INEC by its contractors.
(g) Demand firmly that INEC
should disclose publicly the status of over five million Igbo registered voters
in the North who fled and are still fleeing the area as in what becomes of
their PVCs and voting right during the referenced polls?.
(h) Demand firmly that INEC
should abolish all forms of discriminatory policies and procedures intended to
give the North strategic advantage over the South in the referenced polls. That
is to say that there shall be uniformed voting accreditation and patterns in
the entire country (i.e. use of biometrics/card reader technology must be
enforced evenly in the North and the South or abandoned uniformly)
(i) Demand firmly that INEC
must capture and empower every registered Nigerian voter with PVC and
where it becomes untenable, easier alternatives like use of temporary voters’
cards in the referenced polls, which has now become a popular opinion in
Nigeria, should be allowed.
(j) Communicate firmly to
INEC the disappointment of Nigerians and their rejection in its entirety of the
current grossly lopsided PVCs distribution that have seen Northern
voters receiving 24, 481, 487 as against the South’s 16, 151, 298 with a
whopping difference of 8, 330, 189 as well as Nigerians’ total opposition to
the conduct of the referenced polls with such PVCs distribution
lopsidedness.
(k) Demand firmly that
every registered Nigerian voter must be enfranchised so as to give all
registered voting population in the country their legitimate and justiciable
rights to choose their next President democratically even if they choose a
goat or coconut head or sleeping lecturer to govern them
at the end.
9. Conclusion: Our writing Your Excellencies as respected
representatives of Their Excellencies, Majesties and Holinesses in
our beloved country and at world stage is in consideration and recognition of
your respected countries/organizations’ immense influences and contributions to
our beloved country in economic, political, cultural, democratic and other
social endeavors in recent past and recent times. It is obvious that INEC did
not cut its coat according to its size in its current electoral
midwifery in Nigeria leading to its experimentation with the
lives and rights of Nigerians particularly the registered voters numbering 68,
833, 476. These must no longer be condoned!
Several appeals Your Excellencies have made to Nigeria’s
political authorities and actors on the need to maintain peace before, during
and after the referenced polls; is not good enough unless the activities
of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
particularly its preparations towards the referenced polls are brought under
national and international independent watch and midwifery. This is because
several scholarly studies in the world over including Nigeria have clearly
revealed that 60% causes of electoral violence are traced to the doorstep of
electoral commissions responsible for the conduct of such polls. INEC’s
misconducts above highlighted, if unchecked, clearly have the capacity of
plunging Nigeria into chaos and bloodletting replicate of the Rwandan genocide
of April to July 1994.
It is an uncontestable reality that Nigeria presently faces three
way time bombs: genocidal explosion (massive hate and
tribal slaughtering), resurgence of petrol insurgency in the oil
Niger Delta and continuation of Islamist insurgency in the
agriculture-rich Northern zone. To quench these, INEC must empower every
registered Nigerian voter, irrespective of his or her ethno-religious origin;
with PVC to enable him or her choose his or her next leader
democratically. But where INEC enfranchises or appears to have enfranchised
more Nigerians of particularly ethno-religious divides to the disadvantage of
other federating partners; then the Commission is openly inviting
anarchy, chaos and bloodletting and it shall be held liable collectively
and individually if it does happen.
Yours Faithfully,
For: International Society for Civil
Liberties & the Rule of Law
Emeka Umeagbalasi, B.Sc.
(Hons.) Criminology & Security Studies
Board Chairman,
International Society for Civil Liberties & the Rule of Law
+2348174090052
info@intersociety-ng.org, emekaumeagbalasi@yahoo.co.uk
Chiugo Onwuatuegwu,
Esq., (LL.B. BL), Head, Democracy & Good Governance Program
Obianuju Igboeli, Esq.,
(LL.B, BL), Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of Law Program
Uzochukwu Oguejiofor,
Esq., (LL.B, BL), Head, Campaign & Publicity Department
CC:
1. The Federal Executive Council of
Nigeria
C/o The Secretary to the Government of
the Federation
2. The Chairman, Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria
3. Secretary General, Amnesty
International, London, UK
4. Executive Director, Human Rights
Watch, USA, New York, USA
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please restrict your comment to the subject matter.