Press Conference By The International Society For Civil Liberties And Rule Of Law (Intersociety) In Conjunction With South-East Based Coalition Of Democracy And Human Rights Organizations Holding In Enugu Today (Sunday) October 29, 2023
Theme: Nov 11 (2023) Imo Governorship Poll: Is INEC Truly Organizing Free, Fair, Secured And Credible Election Or Planning To Harvest And Write Results For The Incumbent?
‘Harvesting And Writing Of Results’ Cooking In Imo
The available pieces of evidence and realities on the ground have continued to strongly indicate that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is at it again in Imo State which will be having a crucial Governorship Election in less than two weeks or on November 11, 2023. From every indication, it is difficult for us at Intersociety and SBCDHROs to be convinced that the Commission is genuinely organizing free, fair, secured and credible Governorship Election for the long suffering and peace loving People of Imo State. Instead, it is easily convincing and may likely to be correct to say that Nigeria’s INEC is planning to ‘harvest and write results’ for the incumbent in the State. The above is more so when it must not be hurriedly forgotten and that the January 14, 2020 Nigeria’s Supreme Court verdict that installed Hope Uzodinma as ‘Imo Governor’ remotely originated from ‘harvested results’ from 311 polling units in the State where voting either did not take place or was canceled as a result of widespread violence and gross malpractices in the State’s April 2019 Governorship Election.
True Winner Of Imo Governorship Poll Will Garner 90,000-130,000 Votes As Maximum
It is not out of place for us to express deep fears that another round of “result harvesting and writing” is cooking in Imo. Nigerians and other international democracy watchers will not be surprised to see the allocation of 500,000-1m (dead) votes as “total valid and lawful votes scored by the incumbent…winning a landslide”. However, and truly speaking; going by several investigations done by Intersociety and the realities on the ground in Imo State, the true winner of the State’s Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll, in an atmosphere of “one-man-one-vote contest”, will not score more than 90,000-130,000 (living) votes. This will be out of possibly total lawful votes cast of not more than 300,000. This projection was arrived at after putting into consideration the fears; chaos and bloodletting that have gripped the State since January 2021 in which more than half of the State’s 27 Local Government Areas are deeply affected and 65% or 1.8m (out of the State’s 2.4m PVC holders) of the registered voting population uprooted and forced out of their voting areas; leaving the State with only 600,000 eligible voters, out of which 300,000 may maximally vote.
…Expect 500,000 “Results” And Above For The Fake Winner If ‘Harvested And Written”
Unless extreme lawful measures are timely taken, otherwise, Nigerians and other international democracy watchers should expect the return of the incumbent as “the winner” who polled “500,000-1m votes”. Such declaration, if made by INEC, is expressly expected to have emanated from “harvested and written results”. This is also because it is an act of impossibility for the true and credible winner of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election to even score “160,000 votes and above”; not to talk of garnering “500,000-1m votes”. Apart from over half of Imo State’s 27 Local Government Areas being adversely affected by the ongoing mass murders and destructions, estimated 1.8m of the State’s 2.4m PVC holders have been uprooted and forced out of their original voting locations and not less than half of the remaining 600,000 PVC holders terrified and forced indoors. The Nov 6, 2021 Anambra Governorship Election is a clear case point where Prof Charles Soludo of APGA emerged as the winner with 112, 229 votes out of total lawful votes cast of 249, 631; representing 10.12 percent of the State’s registered PVC holders which stood at 2, 466, 638. The acutely poor voters’ turnout during the Anambra State’s Nov 6, 2021 Governorship Poll was as a result of politically motivated insecurity and other unsafe conditions which are three times lower than that of the present Imo State. The State of Imo also has lower number of registered PVC holders with 2,419, 922 as against Anambra’s 2, 4661, 638 as well as 4,758 polling units and 305 electoral wards as against Anambra’s 5,720 polling units and 326 electoral wards. INEC has also announced that out of Imo’s 4,758 polling units, “it will not conduct election in 38 polling units”. The exact names and locations of the 38 polling units have remained publicly unknown.
Our Interest Is Restoration Of Sanctity Of The Ballot Box And Protection Of Imo Voters
Our priceless interest in Imo State is purely borne out of desire to have decency and sanctity of the Ballot Box restored and Imo voters and their properties secured and protected again in the State after the January 14, 2020 Nigeria’s Supreme Court verdict that installed Hope Uzodinma as Governor. To this end, Imo voters must be protected and allowed to freely vote for Governorship Candidates of their choice on Nov 11, 2023 and their ‘living votes’ and properties protected. Apart from ensuring their security and safety, the voting routes and environments and their residences and sensitive voting materials including result sheets (.i.e. FormEC8As) must also be secured and subversive elements within the security forces including deployed soldiers, police crack squads and ‘Ebubeagu killer militias’ and all armed non state criminal entities stopped from wrecking more havocs. The restoration of sanctity of the ballot box in Imo; corrupted and bastardized following the January 14, 2020 Supreme Court judgment; is capable of ending the ongoing mass murders and property destructions that have ravaged the State since January 2021-leading to unlawful killing by drafted security forces and armed non state actors of combined total of over 2000 unarmed and defenseless citizens and wanton destruction of more than 1,600 civilian houses and tens of thousands of other “non military necessity” properties. For more details, see Intersociety’s Special Investigative Report (Imo Mass Murders and Destructions), issued on May 21, 2023 and another: Who Is Killing Who Outside The Law In Igbo Land, issued on August 28, 2023: https://intersociety-ng.org/armed-state-actors-and-armed-non-state-actors-killed-1600-unarmed-citizens-in-29-months-in-imo-state/; https://intersociety-ng.org/who-is-killing-who-outside-the-law-in-igbo-land/.
Our Letters To INEC, NPF, PSC, Army And DSS Over Imo Poll Have Not Been Acted Upon
Intersociety’s letter to INEC Chairman was dated Monday, Sept 25, 2023 (submitted by our lawyers and received same day) and captioned: “Time Is Now For The Independent National Electoral Commission Under Prof Yakubu To Comprehensively Address Its In-House Challenges Threatening Impartiality And Credibility Of The Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Election In Imo State And Clear The Mess Highlighted Below” (https://intersociety-ng.org/time-is-now-for-the-independent-national-electoral-commission-under-prof-yakubu-to-comprehensively-address-its-in-house-challenges-threatening-impartiality-and-credibility-of-the-nov-11-2023-governor/). Our letter to Chairman of the Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police was also dated Monday, Sept 25, 2023 (submitted by our lawyers and received same day) and captioned: “To Ensure Participatory, Free, Fair, Credible And Secured Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election: Time Has Come To Transfer Senior Police Officers In Imo State And Zone 9 Police Commands And Disarm And Demobilize The Imo State Government Ebubeagu Militias And Armed Others“ (https://intersociety-ng.org/psc-and-igp-task-to-overhaul-imo-police-command-ahead-of-nov-11-2023-poll/); while that of the Chief of Army Staff, dated Monday, Sept 25, 2023 (submitted by our lawyers and received on September 26, 2023) was captioned “To Ensure Participatory, Free, Fair, Credible And Secured Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election: Time Has Come To Transfer The Commandant/Principal Officers And Field Operational Commanding Officers Of The 34 Brigade In Imo State And Keep The Imo State Government-funded Ebubeagu Militias And Armed Others Off From Polling Units And Result Collation Centers On Election Day”( https://intersociety-ng.org/nigerian-army-written-on-imo-governorship-election/). A copy of our letter to Chief of Army Staff was also sent to the Chief of Defense Staff which was received on September 26, 2023)
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We also wrote the Director General of DSS, dated Sept 25, 2023 (submitted by our lawyers and received same day) and captioned “To Ensure Participatory, Free, Fair, Credible And Secured Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election: Time Has Come To Transfer The Imo State DSS Director And Other Principal Officers Including The State’s 27 LGAs’ Operational Officers-in-Charge And Offer Credible Intelligence And Assist Lawful Law Enforcement Operations Friendly To Public Security And Safety And Popular And Secured Voting In The State’s Crucial Governorship Election Fixed For Nov 11, 2023”(https://intersociety-ng.org/to-ensure-participatory-free-fair-credible-and-secured-nov-11-2023-imo-governorship-election-time-has-come-to-transfer-the-imo-state-dss-director-and-other-principal-officers-including-the-state/). Intersociety further sent letters to the National Security Adviser and the Minister of Interior, dated September 25, 2023 and captioned: To Ensure Participatory, Free, Fair, Credible And Secured Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election: NSA And Minister of Interior Should Ensure That Our Important Letters To INEC Chair, IGP/PSC, COAS And DG-DSS Are Timely Acted Upon And Complied With For Purposes Of Public Interest And Sanctity Of The Ballot Box And Security And Safety Of Imo Voters, General Public And Their Properties(https://intersociety-ng.org/joint-letter-to-nsa-and-minister-of-interior-on-imo-governorship-election/). Physical copies of the proof of delivery are hereby attached in this Press Conference Text for purpose of setting the record straight.
Key Highlights In Our Letter To INEC:
· Failure to thoroughly investigate and clear the strong allegations that APC apologists and top officials’ relatives are made senior INEC officials in Imo and South-East including National Commissioners-and the INEC’s silence over them have continued to portray the Commission as an appendage or branch of APC ahead of Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Poll
· Avoid harvesting results in places where election or voting never take place (.i.e. INEC’s recently announced exclusion of 38 polling units) in Imo on Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll or where election was held but canceled as a result of widespread violence or gross malpractices
· Calling for “No Result Sheets (.i.e. FormEC8As), No Voting” in the Imo’s Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll
· Location of collation centers must be outside the arenas under the grip and undue influence of the Government of Imo State (.i.e. offices of LG Chairmen or Chairpersons)
· Imo voters and general public must not be kept in the dark by INEC over voting guidelines for the Nov 11, 2023 Poll
· INEC must urgently reverse all politically motivated staff postings, appointments and transfers ahead of the Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll.
· The Letter to INEC specifically requested and still request for transfer of Imo REC, Prof Sylvia Agu and eight heads of Imo’s INEC key departments; namely: Emmanuella Okpara (HOD-Voter Education), Mr. Raymond (HOD-ICT), Chinonye Osuji (Public Relations Officer), Dr. Fidelis Uguru (Acting Administrative Secretary), Agnes Elokpo (ICT Department), Okorie Esther (Acting HOD-Operations), Barrister Sunday Nwaigboko (HOD Legal) and Mrs. Gloria Ogbuechi (INEC EO for Nkanu East in the 2023 Governorship Election in Enugu State, now posted to Imo State). We are also not comfortable with the continued retention in Imo INEC of the following eleven Local Government Electoral Officers (EOs): Emeka Okike Ukpa (Owerri West), Omeje Peter Ikebuchukwu (Nwerre), Nwabisi Theresa (Mbaitoli), Nnebue Adolph (Ezinihitte-Mbaise), Nnonyelum Benjamin (Ngokpala), Okorie Franklyn (Isiala-Mbano), Uzor Chikwendu (Okigwe), Nwachukwu Anyalewechi (Onuimo), Chukwuemeka Blessing (Orlu), Okafor Obiorah (Orsu), Uzoka Emmanuel (Oru East).
Key Highlights In Our Letters To IGP, PSC Chair, DG-SSS And Chief Of Army Staff:
· Security and safety of Imo voters and protection of their votes and ballot boxes as our cardinal interest
· Timely overhaul of the Imo State and Zone 9 Police Commands including transfer of the Zone 9 AIG, Imo CP, Mohammed Barde, DCPs OPS/SCID, other heads and operational commanders such as State and LGA commanders of Police IRT’s Tiger Base, Anti Cultism, Anti Terrorism, Anti Robbery, Anti Kidnapping, STDs, SWAT, CTU, etc.
· Ensure that location of collation centers are outside the arenas under the grip and undue influence of the Imo Government and its top appointees and other public office holders in the State or from the State
· Avoid policing the harvesting and writing of results where voting never take place or was canceled over widespread violence or gross malpractices in the Imo’s Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll
· Imo State Government officials and Federal lawmakers from the State or South-East must not be allowed to pocket Pre/Election Day policing
· All forms of unlawful conducts by the Ebubeagu killer militias and other Government-linked unlawful armed persons or entities must be checkmated and stamped out on Election Day in Imo State including disarming and blocking them from nearing polling booths and result collation centers.
· Timely transfer of the 34 Brigade Commandant at Obinze and other principal officers and operational commanding officers of the Nigerian Army formations in Imo State
· Timely transfer of the Imo Director of DSS and other senior officers including ‘Officers-in-Charge’ of the Imo State’s 27 Local Government Areas and operational heads at the State’s DSS Directorate.
Key Highlights In Our Letters To NSA And Minister Of Interior:
That Intersociety’s important letters to INEC Chair, IGP, PSC Chairman, Chief of Army Staff and DG-DSS should timely be acted upon and made to be complied with for purposes of public interest and ensuring sanctity of the Ballot Box and security and safety of Imo Voters, general public and their properties. The NSA and the Minister of Interior were also strongly called upon to ensure that Imo Voters and their properties are secured and protected to freely vote for Governorship Candidates of their choice on Nov 11, 2023 and that apart from ensuring their security and safety, the voting environments and their residences and properties must also be secured and subversive elements within the security forces including Nigerian Army and all armed non state criminal entities stopped from wrecking more havocs.
“Security And Police Conferences” In Imo A Threat To Independence Of Nov 11 Poll
The choice of Owerri-Imo State for the gone by “South-East Govs’ Security and Economic Summit” held on September 28 and 29, 2023 and the “Senior Police Officers Conference”, to be held on Oct 30-Nov 1, 2023 is politically motivated and a clear attempt to undermine the independence, impartiality and credibility of the Nov 11 Governorship Election in the State. The two events should have been taken to a neutral Capital City or State and not Imo State-‘a Governorship Election State’. The choice of Imo State to host the two events is also considered to be a waste of the earned and the borrowed public funds belonging to long suffering and uprooted citizens of the State and a clear case of political sponsorship geared towards gathering and cornering undue political favor and advantage for the incumbent Governor of Imo State who is facing a uphill task of securing a second term owing to his grisly and egregious human rights records. The Government of Imo State financial commitments in the two events; drawn from the State public treasury are capable of turning the operational attention and undue sympathies of the country’s security chiefs including IGP, PSC Boss, DIGs, AIGs, CPs and Service and Intelligence Chiefs into unduly favoring the State incumbent in the Nov 11 Poll and encouraging Election Day partisanship including aiding and abetting poll rigging. The choice of Imo for the two events is hereby strongly and unreservedly condemned. A clear case in point is an age long close relationship
We Are Watching DIG Frank Mba And Imo Police Anti Cult And IRT Tiger Base Commanders
Clusters of critics and observers have expressed deep fears over the age long closeness of DIG Frank Mba and Gov Hope Uzodinma and its possible negative effects capable of undermining the safety, popularity and credibility of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Election. This is even as DIG Frank Mba is in a verge of being drafted to Imo State to supervise the Poll. DIG Mba’s closeness with Gov Uzodinma has been pointed out by critics to have dated back to the former’s service days at the Anti Fraud Unit at Milverton, Lagos State. The closeness became so pronounced that during DIG Frank Mba’s recent elevation to the post of a DIG, he was jointly decorated with his new rank by Gov Hope Uzodinma and IGP Kayode Agbetokun. Pictorial evidence of same also trended widely on social, print and electronic media.
Critics are deeply concerned that the closeness is likely to have a negative impact on the outcome of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Poll including undermining its independence and credibility. We have also been reliably informed that the Owerri Tiger Base of the Nigeria Police IRT under the command of one Chukwuka Dibia and the State Police Command’s Anti Cultism under the command of one Oladimeji have become a willing tool recklessly and indiscriminately used to hunt down and haunt political opponents of the State incumbent; all targeted at undermining the safety, popularity and credibility of the Poll. The above is to the extent that the two Police Crack Squads are reported to have been deployed using phantom criminal allegations with intents to intimidate members of the political opposition and conscientious voting population ahead of the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Poll. We are therefore watching the likes the movements and service-activities of DIG Frank Mba, CP Mohammed Barde and the above named Police Crack Squads’ Commanders Dibia and Oladimeji ahead of the important Poll.
Our Recent Visit To South-East Zone Of The EFCC To Checkmate Vote Buying In Imo
The Delegation of Intersociety and South-East Based Coalition of Democracy and Human Rights Organizations had on Oct 17, 2023 stormed the Enugu Zone of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) headed by the Zonal Commander, Aliyu Naibi. The Delegation was led by Prof Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo; a respected University Don and Human Rights and Democracy Campaigner and Engineer Ikenwoke Nwandu, a respected Computer Security Engineer and Human Rights and Democracy Campaigner. Other members of the Intersociety-SBCDHROs Delegation were Chukwuemeka Chijioke, PhD and Izundu Chigbo (Atama Ajali). The visit was to seek collaboration with the South-East Zone of the EFCC to checkmate vote buying and other Election Day corrupt practices during the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Poll; including tracking, arresting and prosecuting vote buyers and their recipients and aiders and abettors.
The Delegation was received by the Zonal Commander, Aliyu Naibi and his Zonal Director of Legal Services and Public Relations Officer. The Zonal Commander had in his response expressed his Commission’s readiness to partner with credible Civil Society Organizations which according to him have closer association with the civil population. He assured the Delegation that his Commission in the South-East had received marching orders to make sure that all elections under their purview including the Nov 11, 2023 Imo Governorship Poll are rid of vote buying and other forms of voter intimidations and suppression and that his Commission will deploy enough personnel to checkmate and stamp out the referenced sharp practices in Imo State during its Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll.
Failure To Act On Our Letters Ignited Fears Of “Harvesting And Writing Imo Results”
The failure by eight recipients of “Our Public Interest Letters” on Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll: INEC Chair, IGP, PSC Chair, DG-SSS, Chief of Army Staff, NSA, Minister of Interior and Chief of Defense Staff; expeditiously and judiciously act on the letters has ignited and thickened our fears of possible “harvesting and writing” of Imo Governorship Results in favor of the Incumbent. Our letters are so facts-laden, tempting and irresistible that no sane public office holder and critical stakeholder in democratic process will receive them and still maintain a culture of silence and lukewarm attitude; except if such a public office holder and critical stakeholder is seriously working to undermine democratic process including free, fair, participatory, secured and credible election in Imo State. For timely receiving our well-researched and facts-laden letters and refusing to expeditiously and judiciously act on them, we are left with no option than to conclude that the eight critical public institutions and core stakeholders are “Imo 2023 Governorship Poll Rigging Friendly”. We publicly challenge them to prove us wrong by acting on the letters bearing in mind that time is of extreme essence. It is therefore our firm and resolute position that the results of the Imo Governorship Poll must not be “harvested and written” and that “200,000 living votes are greater than 2m dead votes” in Imo
Fourteen (14) Major Steps Imo Governorship State Candidates And Their Parties Must Take
· Insist that INEC must be impartial and non partisan in posting of EOs, AEOs, Supervisors, etc and their deployment to LGAs, wards and polling units
· Deploy accredited trained and uncompromised agents to polling units across Imo State especially the INEC designated 4,720 POs and 305 electoral wards and 27 Local Government Areas
· Pay much attention to physical component of the polling units’ result sheets or ‘FormEC8As’ than electronic results transmission component and insist on their mandatory availability at all the designated polling units on Election Day
· Ensure that original results are duly tabulated and entered on polling units’ FormEC8As and duly signed by all the accredited party agents and designated security personnel and INEC accredited others
· Ensure that duly signed polling units’ FormEC8As are physically gathered and duly submitted and stored accordingly.
· Reject results that are not duly entered on valid polling units’ FormEC8As and voting and results that are not accompanied with blank FormEC8As before voting
· Ensure that electronically uploaded results are in tandem with those duly entered on polling units’ FormEC8As
· Strictly monitor all the polling units where election did not take place or was cancelled as a result of widespread violence or gross malpractices so as to thwart or scuttle post poll or poll day secret harvesting and writing of results from them
· Monitor the movements around Owerri Government House and its annexes and country homes of the State’s top public office holders so as to scuttle possible ‘writing or harvesting’ of fake results through crooked and criminal INEC officials.
· Insist that INEC must publicly disclose the names and locations of those polling units where election will not take place or where results were canceled as a result of widespread violence or gross malpractices
· Make maximum use of press conferences and written representations to ensure that all of the above are generally checkmated and exposed including riggers, rigging and its aiders and abettors.
· Must shun vote-buying, voter intimidation and suppression and Election Day violence.
· Must insist on lawful and popular voting and generation of credible results and totally reject “dead and robotic votes or results”.
· Must publicly expose corrupt and compromised INEC officials, whether substantive or ad hoc; and senior security officers and their field personnel undermining the Imo’s Nov 11, 2023 Governorship Poll.
Signed
For: International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
· Emeka Umeagbalasi (Criminologist-Researcher)
Board Chair
· Anayo Okoli, Member of the Board
· Chidinma Evangeline Udegbunam Esquire
Head of Campaign and Publicity
Signed
For: South-East Based Coalition of Democracy and Human Rights Organizations
· Prof Jerry Chidozie Chukwuokolo
Deputy Leader
· Engineer Ikenwoke Nwandu
Head, Data Collection and Documentation
· Comrade Aloysius Emeka Attah
Leader, South-East CLO
· General Contacts:
WhatsApp/Mobile: +2348174090052
Email: info@intersociety-ng.org
Website: https://intersociety-ng.org
