IRD-NIGERIA PASSES VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE ON INEC
** Describes 2023 presidential election as “shambolic”
By Mcanthony Onuoha
The Initiative for the Rapid Development, IRD- Nigeria has made public its observations of the 25th February, 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections.
IRD- Nigeria, a non governmental organization registered in Nigeria by CAC in 2013 with membership spread over Nigeria’s major commercial and industrial cities, was among the 2023 presidential election observer groups.
The organization whose main objective is the rapid development of NIGERIA by working with other groups to evolve new crop of leaders and retiring the old brigades that no longer have anything to offer other than corruption, nepotism as well as ethnic and religious bias .
A copy of the group’s findings from the presidential election which was signed by its President, Dr. Chudi B.Nwolisa, and made available to the media read in part:
As an observer group, the Initiative for the Rapid Development Nigeria ( IRD- Nigeria) was very much on ground in the 36 States of the federation to monitor the entire process, and after the election the group came out with these findings :
A. That the elections were generally manipulated, never free nor fair .
B. In some States like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Abakaliki , Akwa Ibom, Kogi , FCT etc policemen were used to alter the results of the election by refusing to allow people with PVC’s access to drive through to their new polling booths after INEC
tactically changed the location of the PU 48hrs to the election .
C. INEC officials , adhoc staff tactically refused to send materials to polling booth till 12noon and some places 3:30pm while the materials never arrived at all at many Christian communities in Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Kano , Taraba , Bauchi, Gombe etc .
D. Out of over 150 INEC officials met on the line of duty across the nation are mainly Muslims.
E. Brazen voter intimidations and suppression went on unabated in Rivers, Lagos, Adamawa, Taraba , Kaduna, Ebonyi , Akwa Ibom , Benue States, etc .
F. The BVAS machines were bypassed in the majority of Northern States especially Kano , Katsina, Jigawa , Borno so that minors between 5yrs and 15yrs voted massively as part of the orchestrated agenda for corrupt election results.
G.There was no taking into consideration of the death of over 50% of those on the voters registration lists .
H. Religion and Ethnicity played a serious role in that the high population of Muslims in the INEC, POLICE ETC tilted the manipulated election towards a Muslim/Muslim ticket.
I. NIGERIA is a secular state with majority population of Christians and Muslims and therefore the use of over 80% Muslim officials is therefore unacceptable and will never yield a transparent process in Nigeria.
Our conclusion is that future appointment of electoral officers should exclude NIGERIAN Professors who have been grossly impoverished by the system and therefore just like the proverbial Esau are likely to sell their birthright with a pot of porridge,” the group submitted .
Meanwhile, other domestic and international observer groups have continued to flood the media with their findings from the presidential election, while some have hailed INEC for a well organized election others reports have faulted the entire process describing it as shambolic while some tagged it the most compromised presidential election in Nigeria since 1999.
