Perpetrators of poll violence ’ll be held accountable, says EU

As the World waits for the final results of last weekend’s elections, the European Union (EU) has warned that it will hold anybody responsible for electoral violence accountable.
Addressing reporters in Abuja yesterday, members of the European Union Election Observation Mission for the 2015 Nigerian election, led by its Chief Observer Santiago Fisas Ayxelà, cautioned Nigerian politicians against violence as anybody who engages in or prompts violence will be held accountable.

Santiago Fisas Ayxelà and his team also stated that the EU, particularly the European Parliament, “will reject attempts by politicians to gain power through violence”, advising that instead they should go to court and focus on national unity.
The EU ruled out incidences of systemic suppression, stressing that there was “no national evidence of intimidation or systemic subversion of the process but we are watching the process, it is important INEC reevaluates its card readers.”
The EU also stated that “the Rivers state crisis will not affect the integrity of the process but the EU has received credible complaints from Lagos regarding collation of results.”
Fisas described this election as the most competitive in the history of Nigeria and urged Nigerians to accept the outcome and be peaceful.

He said the election was generally peaceful but with some regrettable incident of violence. He noted the problems recorded with card readers and delays in some polling stations.
The EU election observation leader praised security agencies and staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a job well done and expressed confidence in INEC’s work.
The EU team felt the biometric system was not adequately tested before it was deployed for the general election. Besides, the team said there was room for improvement, especially in communication and logistics.

The team Fisas said, “will follow up on petitions and present its final report in two months but that it will be up to the government to accept or reject such report.
The EU team also advocated for a reform of the electoral laws to strengthen democracy, especially in election funding and the right to stand for election.
The team described as implausible claims by INEC that a particular state recorded 92 per cent collection of Permanent Voters Card (PVCs), arguing that there must have been some deaths by some PVC holders between 2010 and 2015. They also lamented that much of the campaign violence was not addressed while some segments of the media received commendation for balanced reportage; others were biased.