Domestic election observers accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and deployed to Akwa Ibom State during the just concluded governorship and House of Assembly elections, have wondered why the state was regarded a flash point.

Addressing the press in Uyo on Thursday, the domestic observers led by the chairman of National Coalition of INEC Accredited Domestic Observers, Chief Efemana Ututu, said the mammoth crowd of policemen and armed soldiers in the state days before the election created fears and tension such that the people felt intimidated resulting in poor turnout of voters in some areas.

They said despite that, the conduct of the elections in the state was generally peaceful even as they said that the security agents “did their jobs the way it ought to be, except in some areas they were suspected to be partisan.

“The votes cast were counted in the presence of observers along with other stakeholders, and we joined the party agents to endorse the result in some areas. The result of the election was accepted by all parties concerned at every polling unit and collation centre and at the end of the governorship/state House of Assembly elections, there was peace in the state against doom day prophesies .”

The group however, recommended that all stakeholders concerned with the election should be time-conscious and ensure that all the sensitive and non-sensitive materials arrived in time at the designated polling units; and that continuous improvement should be made on the card reader so as to reduce time waste.

“Arising from the above, the card reader should be properly configured and calibrated before deployment to reduce time waste.

“Security agents must adhere to the tenets of professionalism and not close their eyes to malpractices. The undue deployment of armed-military soldiers should be minimised in future elections.

“INEC must not relent on in its continuous improvement of the electoral process so as to continue to deepen democracy and embolden the voter’s confidence in the ballot.”

Consequently, they declared that “the election conducted by INEC in Akwa Ibom State was free, fair, credible and peaceful.”

https://www.akelicious.net/2019/03/militarisation-caused-low-voter-turnout.html