Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room has urged the electoral body INEC, to cancel the governorship and senatorial elections that took place in Kogi State at the weekend.
It said the call was necessitated due to a high level of violence and electoral malpractices that took place during the election in the state.
In its preliminary report on the assessment of the just concluded elections in Bayelsa and Kogi states, the civil society coalition called for serious investigation into alleged cases of vote buying, involvement of security personnel in vote snatching and other forms of security breaches.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on the conduct of Bayelsa and Kogi elections, the Convener of the Civil Society Situation Room, Mr. Clement Nwankwo, described the elections as a great setback to Nigeria’s electoral democracy.
“With particular reference to the elections in Kogi State, the levels of violence perpetrated by the two major political parties and politicians, evident sometimes in the collusion with security personnel, seriously undermined the elections, deterred voters and made the exercise a farce.
Accordingly, Situation Room is calling for the entire cancellation of Kogi State elections conducted on Saturday, November 16,” he said.
He added that Kogi state election represented a major dent on Nigeria’s democratic process.
While presenting the preliminary report of the group, Nwankwo said its observers recounted incidents where security personnel deployed to monitor the election stood by watching thugs snatching ballot boxes, unleashing violence and disrupting the electoral process in Kogi State.