Nigeria’s Catholic bishops have warned that the nation could plunge into “an avoidable crisis” if trust in the electoral process is not restored after this week’s dubious election.
On Wednesday, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu the winner of a controversial presidential ballot vote, amid accusations of rigged elections and calls for a return to the polls.
According to INEC, Tinubu, representing the ruling All Progressives Congress party, received close to 8.8 million votes or 36.6 percent of the total, handily defeating vice president Atiku Abubakar of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and popular third force candidate Peter Obi.
Caritas Nigeria deployed more than 6000 election observers across Nigeria’s 36 states and reported widespread interference in the electoral process, including brutal beatings of voters and observers, ballot burning, roadblocks, underage voting, and fraudulent collusion of police and INEC officials with election tampering.
“In some instances, sensitive and non-sensitive materials were burnt by thugs; voters and observers were beaten to stupor in the full glare of security personnel who not only watched these happen, but participated in the charade,” the statement asserted.
Nigeria President-elect Bola Tinubu (R) walks to receive his certificate of return to the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja on March 1, 2023. (KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty)
We recommend with immediate effect, “that ballot audit, fresh conduct of elections in areas where overwhelming violence took the day, and the seamless overhauling of most of the Commissioners of the INEC must happen to avert civil disobedience,” Caritas said.
For their part, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) said INEC had failed in its promise to ensure that “the sovereign will of the people would be accurately reflected in the conduct of the elections.”
“Palpable tension” over election tampering is hanging over the country “not just by some political parties but by a cross-section of the Nigerian population,” said CBCN president Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji of Owerri.
“We, therefore, urge INEC to promptly take adequate steps to address the issues of concern in order to diffuse [sic] the tension and in the interest of the common good,” Archbishop Ugorji said.
“No matter how long it takes, INEC has to ensure that it does the right thing now to ensure that the sanctity of the collective will of the electorate is not violated, so as to restore the confidence of the citizenry in our government and its institutions.”
The bishops have called on Nigerians to remain calm and prayerful and to “give INEC the time to prove that it is still worthy of our trust.”
“At this time, Nigeria is standing at the edge of a dangerous precipice, INEC must live above board to avoid plunging the nation into an avoidable crisis,” they warned.
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