Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Bertrand Onuoha, said on Tuesday that the off-season governorship elections in Nigeria, especially in his state, were like a war zone and did not resemble a normal poll.
Onuoha made the statement during a public presentation in Abuja about Nigeria’s Election Violence and Education Report on the 2023 governorship polls in Bayelsa, Imo, and Kogi states.
The police commissioner expressed his dismay at the level of bitterness in the November 11 poll, which saw the All Progressives Congress candidate, Usman Ododo, emerge as the winner.
Ododo won with 446,237 votes, defeating Murtala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party and Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party by 259,052 and 46,362 votes, respectively.
However, both Ajaka and Melaye rejected the result due to alleged irregularities in the election.
Onuoha, who criticized the lack of internal democracy in Nigerian politics, insisted that the situation could have been worse without certain measures being taken.
He stated, “Conducting elections in Nigeria is war. Since the creation of Kogi State in 1991, elections have always been like war. I have never seen such bitterness in electioneering in the state before the November 11, 2023 governorship election.
“A lot needs to be done to involve people who are ready to serve their country, rather than those who view politics as a business or career.
“If not for the series of meetings we have held with stakeholders, I believe the election in that state would not have taken place. The lack of internal democracy in political parties has led to pre-election violence, where bitterness arises among members of the same party.
“The type of election being held in Nigeria now is not sustainable. During off-cycle elections, enough personnel from all security agencies can be deployed. We need to return to the grassroots and address the problem. The lack of deterrence is the worst scenario. How many people have been prosecuted for election violence or malpractice since 1999?”
In her address, Executive Director of Kimpact Development Initiative, Bukola Idowu, informed the audience that the organization spent six months monitoring the election campaigns and tracking activities of each actor involved in the Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa off-cycle elections.
Idowu also recommended that the Federal Government and law enforcement agents should ensure that ballot box snatchers and other electoral offenders are prosecuted, going beyond mere arrests.
“We have been monitoring the three states that had off-cycle elections in 2023, namely Kogi, Imo, and Bayelsa. We started tracking the environment, actors, and possible issues of electoral violence six months before the elections.
“We discovered that each of the three states has different causes of violence. In Kogi, violence is fueled by politics of identity, in Bayelsa it's fueled by cultism, and in Imo, there is intimidation, segregation, and secessionist agitation.”
“We suggest that those responsible for electoral violence, who have not been punished, should be held accountable, prosecuted, and tried. We also seek clarity on the legal framework for who should arrest or prosecute,” she requested.
