Nigeria: Presidential election marred by fraud, violence

The Nigerian government should not interfere with legal challenges to the badly flawed presidential elections held last weekend, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch researchers in two northern states observed widespread violence and vote-rigging that was mirrored throughout the country. Human Rights Watch observed violence and intimidation in Gombe and Katsina states in an electoral process that denied large numbers of voters the opportunity to cast their votes. Where voting did occur, it was marred by the late opening of polls, a severe shortage of ballot papers, the widespread intimidation of voters, the seizure of ballot boxes by gangs of thugs, vote buying and other irregularities. "Instead of guaranteeing citizens' basic right to vote freely, Nigerian government and electoral officials actively colluded in the fraud and violence that marred the presidential polls in some areas," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. "In other areas, officials closed their eyes to human rights abuses committed by supporters of the ruling party and others." According to domestic and international election observers, the same trends were in evidence throughout much of the country. The Transition Monitoring Group, Nigeria's largest domestic observer organization, called for a re-run of the presidential polls while European Union observers documented massive irregularities and said that the process "cannot be considered to have been credible." Teams from the US National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute both said that the process "failed the Nigerian people." Human Rights Watch and others found similar patterns of fraud and abuse in state polls held nationwide a week before the presidential election. The end result in both cases was a landslide victory for the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). Katsina state was a key electoral battleground because it is the home state of both the PDP candidate and current state governor Umaru Yar'adua and his most prominent challenger, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. In many communities in Katsina state, Human Rights Watch observed that polling stations never opened. However, these same areas later announced overwhelming victories for the PDP. In Dutsi municipality, Human Rights Watch saw crowds of would-be voters waiting for polling materials that were never delivered. Ballot boxes and ballot papers were instead diverted to the home of the local government chairman, where Human Rights Watch found ballot boxes along with staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), who were loitering about and claiming that voting had already been completed and the results tabulated. The ranking INEC official in Dutsi told Human Rights Watch that voting had finished just two hours after the opening of polls due to "the massive enthusiasm of the voters." Tally sheets in the possession of electoral officials indicated a large turnout with 95 and, in some cases, 100 percent of all votes cast in favor of the PDP. One local opposition candidate told Human Rights Watch, "I expected rigging, but I never imagined they would not even allow the people to cast their votes." Where voting did occur, Human Rights Watch observed serious irregularities and intimidation. Voters were not afforded secrecy as ballot boxes were set up outdoors with other would-be voters crowding around them. At some polling stations visited by Human Rights Watch, PDP party agents stood over voters' shoulders watching as they marked their ballots. Human Rights Watch saw money exchanged for votes in many areas and elsewhere scores of young children turned up to vote with voter registration cards in hand. At several polling stations, ballot boxes or ballot papers were stolen by gangs of thugs. In General Buhari's hometown of Daura, supporters of his opposition All Nigerian Peoples' Party (ANPP) rioted when it was discovered that electoral officials had delivered only half of the ballot papers that should have arrived at local polling stations. In the clashes that ensued, homes and business of prominent PDP members were torched, two people were killed, and at least six were wounded. The following day in Daura's general hospital, Human Rights Watch saw several badly wounded young men, including one young teenager who had been shot in the stomach, allegedly by soldiers attempting to bring the rioting under control. In the whole of Gombe state, voting did not begin until after 3pm, due to the late arrival of presidential ballot papers by plane from Abuja. In some areas the materials simply did not arrive at all. In Balanga and Yamaltu Deba, voters waited in vain for electoral materials and INEC staff to appear. Presiding officers and polling clerks in Balanga were dismayed by the non-arrival of materials; one INEC clerk in Talasee, Balanga told Human Rights Watch: "I am not surprised people are angry, there was no election in Balanga." At collation centers in Kamara Primary School, Jekada Fari and the local government INEC office in Gombe town, Human Rights Watch witnessed the stuffing of ballot boxes by two young men who added ballot papers to a ballot box whose results were in the process of being counted by electoral officials, the filling in of result sheets by INEC officials together with PDP party agents, and the changing of results from one form to another. In the local government office in Gombe town, the electoral officer who was to supervise the collation of final results was asleep in his office while PDP agents and INEC staff were filling in result sheets on the premises. No opposition party representatives were present. Aside from the gross fraud perpetrated on polling day, ruling party supporters and hired thugs targeted members of the opposition for arrest and intimidation. Many opposition supporters and officials were detained without charge in Gombe state before and during polling day. Lawyers for the detained claim they are representing more than 200 cases. Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 opposition party representatives in Gombe police station who had been held for a week without charge. Even the police officer guarding them said: "They should be released, they have done nothing wrong."