MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP) 27 ODU STREET, OGBUNABALI, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE

TEL/FAX: (+234)84-233 907, E-mail: [email protected] [2]

International (+44) 20 7357 0304 [email protected] [3]
PRESS RELEASE Thursday 14th March 2002

NIGERIAN ELECTION ABUSES PARALLEL ZIMBABWE
MOSOP has today released a report on a recent bye election in Ogoni which details concerns that the state of democracy in Nigeria is showing every sign of paralleling the abuses which have recently been observed in Zimbabwe.

"Nigerians to wake up and assert their rights to democratic government before the prospect slips away entirely. If the international community remains silent on events in Zimbabwe and our own government is allowed to defend such outrages then we are one step closer to making a mockery of democracy in this country," said Ledum Mitee President of MOSOP in Port Harcourt today.

"We have seen efforts to restrict the formation of political parties, the unexplained sacking of all of Nigeria’s electoral commissioners, and in our own area a by- election which demonstrates that fraud, violence and intimidation is still a matter of routine."

The report on the Khana II bye election was monitored by MOSOP, IHRL , and the National Salvation Front who were all accredited by INEC . It details incidents of violence against monitors, blatant stuffing of ballot boxes by officials, and denial of access to observe the vote count.

The report also details a declared result by INEC which featured votes for a candidate not even on the ballot paper and a massive turnout (close to 100%) which bore no resemblance to observed participation of close to a non-event.

"The election we observed was similar to many of those in 1999 where the few people trooping to polling stations were entirely disenfranchised by a sham where the result was entirely pre-determined. If we fail to recognise the state we are in and allow such elections to go unchallenged then democracy will have died a silent death."

"Like those in Zimbabwe our people do want the right to turn out and vote and feel that their wishes will be respected. We are calling on those at a national and international level to make it clear to our leaders that Nigeria must choose whether it wishes to become a democratic country or a fraudulent dictatorship like that we see emerging in Zimbabwe today."

Notes

President Obasanjo sacked 33 of 36 State Electoral commissioners in Nigeria in the last week of February citing unpublished security reports. There are emerging claims that the replacement commissioners are associates of President Obasnajo’s PDP party. The National Assembly is currently debating an amendment to Nigeria’s electoral act after a highly controversial and last minute insertion into the Act effectively barred new political parties from contesting senior positions in elections due in Nigeria in 2003.

MOSOP is a human and environmental rights group in the Niger delta which drew international attention to human rights abuses under Ngeria's most recent military ruler General Sani Abacha. MOSOP President Ken Saro Wiwa and eight collegues were executed in November 1995 after a trial under a military tribunal which was condemened internationally and led to Nigeria's suspension from the Commonwealth.

For More information Contact:

Mr. Deeka Menegbon

Secretary GeneralMOSOP ph (+234) 84 233 907

For interviews only Ledum Mitee, (+234) 803 314 0764 mobile

Intl - For assistance/advice contacting MOSOP – Chris Newsom (+44) 777 916 9744

MOVEMENT FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE OGONI PEOPLE (MOSOP)
27 ODU STREET, OGBUNABALI, PORT HARCOURT, RIVERS STATE
TEL/FAX: (+234)84-233 907, E-mail: [email protected] [2]
International (+44) 20 7357 0304 [email protected] [3]

Summary of Election Report for the Khana II Bye Election

Background
Khana constituency 2 is one of two State House of Assembly constituencies in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State. It covers the entire northern fringe of the local government , and is traditionally/administratively known as Nyo-Khana Kingdom of Ogoni.
It comprises thirty-seven villages divided into eleven wards and a combined total of one hundred and twenty seven polling units.

The bye election was held on Saturday February 9th and MOSOP opted to monitor this election to establish behaviour of the parties, INEC (Electoral Commission), and police before significant intervention has taken place to improve practices.
MOSOP did organise a seminar/workshop for INEC and the Police and secured accreditation for itself and two other organisations to act as monitors (Institute for Human rights and Humanitarian Law and the National Salvation Front from Lagos).
This activity was an early part of MOSOP’s programme to establish democratic participation in government elections and establish democratic accountability for representatives once elected.

Conduct of Election
Unfortunately, despite three years of civilian rule, the election followed a well known pattern of abuses (which were significantly under-reported in 1999)

Problems which arose included:

· Assault on election monitors, theft of their property, and destruction of their vehicle
· Widespread thumbprinting of election ballots by electoral officials
( at some polling stations it seemed all votes were to be filled by officials)
· Violent theft of ballot boxes from INEC office controlling election
· Importation of hired thugs into area by some political parties/actors
· Extremely low turnout and awareness of election by local people

Further Problems with the actions of INEC included:

· Blocking the accredited monitors from observing the counting of votes

· Announcing a result which included votes for a candidate who was not on the ballot paper

· Announcing results which would require close to a 100% turnout at every single polling booth (127 booths)in the constituency with 98.5 % of votes cast for one candidate.

FINAL REPORT ON THE KHANA CONSTITUENCY 2 BYE-ELECTION BY THE INEC ACCREDITED MONITORING /OBSERVER TEAM

As a result of the assassination of Hon. Monday Ndor, the member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Khana constituency 2, a bye-election was slated for the Saturday, February 9,2002.

Khana constituency 2 is one of the two State House of Assembly constituencies in Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State. It covers the entire northern fringe of the local government , and is traditionally/administratively known as Nyo-Khana Kingdom of Ogoni. It comprises thirty-seven villages divided into eleven wards and a combined total of one hundred and twenty seven polling units.

A joint monitoring team representing the Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL), Port Harcourt, Ogoni Star Newspapers, Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) and the National Salvation Front, Lagos, was accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe the conduct of the bye-election in Khana constituency 11 .

The monitoring /Observer team has as its two principal objectives ,

· to assess the conduct of the bye-election in terms of efforts by INEC, election officials ,party agents and security personnels aimed at ensuring transparency in the election especially in the area of distribution of election materials by INEC, voting procedures, peaceful conduct and the overall efficiency of INEC to organise a free and fair election under a civilian administration.

Secondly, it was the teams determination to use the election to assess the
· Level of the peoples consciousness in regard to participation in the election process as well as turn-out for the election. This was to at least ,see if there has been a paradigm shift from the military era to the imbibing of a democratic culture/orientation , judging against the apathy towards election that characterised the democratic space in the area during the previous military-guided transition. This also entailed the ascertaining of the campaign patterns and the build-up by the contestants and their respective parties prior to the election.

The team representing these credible organisations on Saturday, February 9, 2002, arrived at the INEC zonal office, Bori around 10.00 am in the morning, where the Election materials were supposed to have been distributed. On arrival, we met the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Etim Udoh and some INEC staff.

The commissioner after we have been issued badges/ cards and vehicle stickers told us that he had already given out the election materials to presiding officers to take to the various polling stations. He (REC) also informed us that in view of the incident which occurred in the morning during the distribution of election materials when hired thugs had driven into the INEC premises, released some gun shots which injured two police officers that were attached to him and carted away with some ballot boxes, the police officers were being hospitalised

He also appealed to us not to risk our lives by going into the hinterland, villages, but that we should remain in Bori and move around, stressing that danger seem to hang ahead and we are still young to die. He also threatened to cancel the Election if the materials carted away are not returned untampered with.

On arrival at the INEC premises in Bori, we noticed the presence of an unprecedented crowd largely made up of hoodlums. We also saw the chairman of Khana L.G.A, Mr. Letam Korsi, the state commissioner for Culture and Tourism Mr. Emmanuel Deeyah, the State Vice chairman of P.D.P Mr. Lee Maeba, officers of A.D which includes the State Party Chairman, Mr. Mike Nwialaghi and Mr. Mmuen Kpaganee, the President of Niger Delta Youth Movement. P.D.P Chairman Tai L.G.A. ,Mr. Christian Menebara, P.D.P Chairman, Gokana L.G.A,Mr. Sam Adue and Mr. Victor Giadom, a P.D.P. Stalwart from Gokana.

It would be recalled that it was earlier suggested the previous day(Friday 8/2/2002 ) that the INEC officials , the monitoring/observer team and the security officials will move round in the same convoy. But owing to the late arrival of the monitoring team to the INEC Office, Bori, due to transport problems, this suggestion could not be adhered to and the team had to embark on the exercise separately after holding a brief discussion with the commissioner.

Compelled by our sense of duty and commitment, in spite of the commissioners warning we decided to brave the odds to visit the various polling stations in the villages. We therefore divided ourselves into two groups with members of the National Salvation Front, covering the villages of Okwali, Sogho, Kpong,Luebe, Lorre ,while the members of IHRHL, MOSOP, and Ogoni Star covered the area from Beeri, Taabaa, Lueku, Nyokuru and the Bangha area.

When we got to Beeri, we met some youths with machetes from Yeghe who claimed that they were stationed there by the Chairman of Khana L.G.A.
Having given us a right of passage on the road, we proceeded to Taabaa as the situation in Beeri was not good enough for us to enter the town .
At Taabaa, around 11.30am, we got to the polling station at the primary school where we met only the polling clerk, a police officer but no party agent. According to them, they were just arriving so nobody had voted. In-fact, there was no voter around. Our visit to other polling stations in Taabaa met the same experience.

We were told by some of the presiding officers and some indigenes of the communities we visited that the near-zero turnout for the election was as a result of the political parties failure to campaign and mobilise the electorates and even members of the parties for the election. According to them, the money that was voted into campaigns was diverted into trump-up claims of security and logistics.

From Taabaa, we moved on to Lueku in ward 3. In Lueku, we first stopped at the polling station at Guh where they were just setting up their table. There was no election as at mid day. From here, we proceeded to Nyogor-Lueku at Mmke polling unit where we met the presiding officer thumb-printing votes for a particular candidate. There was no voter turnout.

From Baa-Lueku, the team stopped at Tem Lueku at Gbara unit. At this place, there was also no voter- turn out. Then we inquired of the police officer attached to the station, we were told that he had gone to the house of a former honourable in the area ostensibly for settlement.

Some of the officers of the police joined us at this point and informed the polling clerk that they should do what they wanted to do and finish early so that he would come to collect them by 1.00p.m.

At this juncture, the Presiding Officer came in, speaking in the local dialect, directed the polling clerk to thumbprint as much as they can quickly.

From Tem Lueku, we stopped at the polling station at the Duson market. The polling clerk was just setting up his materials. He claimed that the material arrived late. There was no voter around. From Lueku community, we drove to Nyokuru where we stopped at Bua-baa polling station and Ee-Te Ueyor polling station and there was no voter turnout.

It would be stressed at this juncture , that apart from Lueku where the electoral officers were disposed to revealing their identity by giving us their names, others in other centres were not favourably disposed to doing so , knowing that we were election monitors/observers .

From this point, the team who was travelling in a hired 10 seater bus plate No.CW 570 AAA, shuttle No. 15, pasted with INEC stickers, was heading to Bangha area where on the Nyokuru-Nyobe Bangha link road, the team was pursued by a band of hired thugs in a 504 salon car painted in a faded Rivers State Public transport colour, popularly called. Okilo colour. The team members could not take down the number of the vehicle as it was covered with black cloth. Hardly had the team stopped when these thugs swooped on our vehicle with cutlasses, guns, bottles, axes and knives.

They beat up the team members, destroyed the vehicle, wounded the MOSOP Observer, and took away our Olympus tape recorders, camera, and some amount of money, document and even food items. The driver and conductor of the vehicle were also beaten and wounded. The youths asked the team what they were doing in Ogoni that day when they know election was going on in the area.

They demanded to know if the Chairman was the one who sent us, claiming that the Chairman is causing trouble in Khana and they would not allow him have his way.After destroying our car, they left us in the middle of the bush having dispossessed us of all our belongings.

We trekked to the Anti-Robbery squad at Bunu-Bangha junction to make a report. We were told at that point that since it is an Ogoni matter that they would not come in.However, they gave us water to drink a place to sit and also provided a vehicle for us back to Bori .On arrival at the INEC office, Bori, we saw another vehicle already vandalised.

We were informed by a security personnel at the Office that the commissioner had directed that we should all come to the council Secretariat where the result was being collated. At this point, our colleagues from the Okwali zone joined us.

By the time we got to the council where we were permitted to enter the collation hall but not allowed to see the purported votes that were being collated while we were secluded to stay somewhere in the hall away from where the result was being compiled ,we protested against this but did not yield any dividend.

In-spite of the indifference , we made our observation known to the Commissioner that we were surprised to find that in-spite of the near-zero voter turnout, ballot boxes filled with thump-printed ballot papers had already been submitted.

1. We protested to the Commissioner that our observation indicated

(a) Only two candidates were presented for the election on the ballot paper . Mr. Leyii Kwanee for the PDP and Mr.Nayor Sorbari M for the A.D.
The APP as a party did not present a candidate as for all practical purposes, the APP seemed to have become merged with the PDP.
(b) That there was a near-zero voter turnout for the election
(c)That we saw a situation where people were brought from neighbouring Tai and Gokana Local Government Areas in large numbers as thugs and voters in secret locations . From our investigation, we found out that the P.D.P. leadership in Tai and Gokana hired these persons as their own way of assisting and ensuring the victory of the party in the election. The team members were able to recognise some of these hired persons.
(d)That the armed thugs were also drawn from Beeri and Yeghe Communities and were said to have been sponsored by the council Chairman, Mr. Letam Korsi and some other politicians in the area.

The Commissioner accepted that he had already gotten such reports and informed us that he has cancelled the votes from 12 polling units .He alleged that there was widespread rigging and violence at these polling units thus necessitating the cancellation of votes from the affected units.

However, our checks revealed that the 12 polling units that had their votes cancelled had nothing to do with the polling units at Beeri,Taabaa,Lueku and Nyokuru communities where we also observed serious cases of fraud.Infact we met the presiding officers and supervisors from the zone counting votes from their polling units.

We were therefore surprised to find that in-spite of the obvious and gross abnormalities and violence associated with the election, involving even the non-return of election materials that were carted away , and for which the INEC Resident Commissioner had earlier threatened to cancel the election , INEC went ahead to announce doctored results for the elections.

The greatest assault on civility was displayed in the declaration of election results.
According to INEC, the P.D.P. candidate ,Mr.Leyii Kwanee polled 57411 votes,A.D. candidate,Mr. Nayor Sobari M. had 355 votes while the A.P.P.s Mr. Nuka Suanu garnered 479 votes.
In an election that there was obviously only two clear contestants , INEC declared votes for three persons reflecting the three political parties and even allocated votes to a party (All Peoples Party) which did not field candidate for the election.

In view of the near zero turn out for the election witnessed by the observers ,accentuated by no campaign on the part of contestants as confirmed by the electorate/villagers and the damning unpopularity of the Contestants with the people, it is very doubtful how any of the candidates would have polled almost 98.5% of the votes cast in the election.

This, from our assessment of the situation on the ground is very unrealistic and calls to question the staggering number of votes [which would have required a near 100% turnout across all polling booths] garnered by the winner of the election.

We conscientiously condemn this daylight rape of democracy and therefore conclude as follows;

1.That the entire exercise which took place at Khana II Constituency on Saturday,9th February,2002 was an electoral farce, a parody of democracy and a tragic commentary on the ability of a civilian administration to organise a free and fair elections.

2.That Presiding officers of INEC and party agents were actually thumb-printing ballot papers on behalf of candidates

3.That the fact that INEC went ahead to announce results for this elections in-spite of the widespread documented evidence of malpractice and violence which even began right under the watchful eyes of the Resident Electoral Commissioner betrays every sense of integrity and transparency. It suggests to us that INEC compromised its Mission, and this development, to say the least, is a great threat to the survival of our present democratic engagement.

We, therefore, based on our assessment of the situation hereby declare that no election took place at Khana constituency II on Saturday, February 9, 2002.

S.I. Amadi (Esq)
For: Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Laws (IHRHL)
Port Harcourt

Legborsi Pyagbara
For: Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)
Port Harcourt

Femi Israel
National Salvation Front
Lagos.

Sunday Zorvah
Ogoni Star Newspapers

Annexed is the result of the election as declared by INEC and signed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Rivers State.