Politicians engaging in fake news to delegitimize INEC – CDD

The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) has accused political parties of using fake news to delegitimize the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the electoral process during the Kogi state governorship election.

Director CDD, Ms. Idayat Hassan, made this known in the group’s preliminary statement on the conduct of Saturday’s Kogi stateb governorship election.

Hassan said that the CDD’ electoral environment observation report had previously predicted that political parties would use fake news during the election to cause confusion.

“Some of the fake news circulated today include, the disqualification of the PDP candidates, false results, fake images of thugs arrested and snatching of ballot papers. CDD fact-checkers were able to debunk most of the fake news.

“The hoaxes are mainly intended at delegitimizing INEC and the process; again, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are the leading platforms used to spread disinformation,” she stated.

Hassan said that earlier, voters across the 21 local government areas of Kogi state went to the poll to elect a governor and in Kogi West, a rescheduled senatorial election also got underway following a court verdict.

She said that at the CDD Election Analysis Centre, reports have been coming from trained and accredited observers deployed across the 21 local government areas of the state and that the preliminary statement is an overview of the initial findings on the conduct of the election.

She said that the CDD observed the use of financial inducements to affect the outcome of the election, adding that it also noted the systematic and coordinated violent attacks at polling units and carting away of voting materials.

According to her, in many polling units, observers and journalists were blocked from accessing and taking photographs in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent gathering of evidence of electoral malpractices.

She noted that the use of violence in the campaigns and open threats of more violence in the election appeared to be a voter suppression strategy which played out on Saturday.

Idayat said its observers reported coordinated disruption of voting across many polling units with hired thugs invading polling units, shooting sporadically to scare away voters and in several cases carting away voting materials.

“In polling unit 001 in Ward 4, Dekina Local Government Area, CDD observers reported sporadic gunfire; violence caused by rival party thugs who battled one other over control of the polling environment.

“These were in Felele and Ganaja areas of Lokoja Local Government Area, especially in registration area 08, Oworo, Felele Area, PU 004. In Ankpa 1 polling unit with number 2203-04-0 in Ankpa Local Government Area,” she said.

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Hassan said that notwithstanding, the fact that INEC enlisted EFCC and ICPC’s support in curtailing vote-buying, the phenomenon was very rampant across the state.

She said that CDD observers reported that party agents in several polling units engaged in the financial inducement of voters to influence them to vote for their parties giving them between N500 and N3, 000.

She said that as at 11 am, accreditation and voting had started in 55.1 per cent of polling units in which CDD deployed observers in Kogi state, just as further information revealed that a good number of INEC ad hoc staff were knowledgeable and familiar with the operation of the smart card reader in some of the polling units observed.

Hassan however, said that the late delivery of materials experienced in some parts of the state was primarily due to logistics challenges and deplorable state of infrastructure like bad roads and difficult terrains experienced in the deployment of electoral materials.