Protesters besiege NHRC public hearing on 2015 election

SCORES of eligible voters on Wednesday stormed the venue of a public hearing organised by the National Human Rights Commission in Port Harcourt and accused the Independent National Electoral Commission of denying Nigerians their right to vote during elections.

The protesters, who gathered under the auspices of the Rivers State Civil Society Coalition for Election Reforms, expressed dissatisfaction that INEC, in connivance with the police and other security agencies, had been involved in the falsification of election results.

Led by the National Coordinator of Social Action, Mr. Celestine Akpobari, the protesters, who sang solidarity song at the venue of the public hearing on Electoral Accountability, urged the NHRC to address the issue of credible, free and fair election in Nigeria.

Some of the placards displayed by the protesters read, ‘We want to vote, but INEC will not allow us’; ‘Bad politics is killing us in Nigeria’; ‘NHRC, please, save us’; ‘Election or selection, please, INEC, tell us’; ‘INEC, which voter cards are we using?’ and ‘INEC, stop violating our rights’.

Addressing members of the Electoral Accountability Project of the NHRC, Akpobari pointed out that the hope of the nation to enjoy good leadership depended on a free and fair election.

Citing the election in Ekiti and Ondo states as examples, Akpobari added that while 700,000 voters were registered by INEC in Ekiti State, only 300,000 persons could vote.

According to him, many people could not vote in Ondo State because they could not find their names in the voter register.

Responding, the Chairman of the Electoral Accountability Project, Prof. Nsongurua Udombana, said Nigerians’ right to elect their leaders must not be breached.

Udombana expressed the need for Nigeria to entrench an electoral system that would punish anybody involved in election malpractice.

“When there is rigging, then such a democracy is unfair and unjust. We have had challenges with the elections that we have conducted in the past. We must not allow electoral malpractices to mar our incipient democracy.”