Inec reveals that some of its staff were raped as it consoles the families of those who died in election violence

INDEPENDENT National Electoral Commission (Inec) officials have revealed that several of its female members of staff were raped during last Saturday's presidential and National Assembly elections in states where there was violence and electoral fraud.

On Saturday February 26, Nigeria held presidential and National Assembly elections but in certain parts of Lagos, Rivers, Bayelsa, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Anambra and Ebonyi states there was political violence with ballot boxes snatched. Inec reported that in several instances, some of its officials experienced threats, harassment, intimidation, assault, abduction and rape.

In one instance, an Inec official Amakiri Ibisaki, was killed in Degema in Rivers State after being hit by a stray bullet. With gubernatorial and state houses of assembly elections coming up next weekend, Inec has directed its resident electoral commissioners to submit comprehensive reports of the incidents for appropriate action to be taken.

Following a two-day meeting with its resident electoral commissioners in Abuja to review the presidential and National Assembly elections, Inec expresse3d regret at the threats its staff faced. While condoling with the families of its ad-hoc staff who lost their lives while on national assignment, as well as other Nigerians who died in the course of the elections, Inec also expressed sympathy for all victims of the violence.

Festus Okoye, the chairman of Inec's information and voter education committee, said: “The meeting acknowledged the delays in the commencement of elections in a number of polling units which necessitated the extension of the closing of polls in the affected areas. The commission is determined to rectify the identified challenges before the elections on March 9.

“The meeting, among others, assessed the role of security agencies in the elections. While acknowledging their professionalism in the deployment of election personnel and materials in a safe and timely manner, the conduct of certain members of the security agencies in some states is a matter of serious concern to the commission.

“This matter will be further discussed directly with the inspector-general of police within the ambit of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in preparation for the governorship, state houses of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections. Although the elections were generally peaceful, the meeting observed and decried the high level of violence in a few places, which, regrettably led to fatalities in some states, in addition to the subjugation of some of our electoral officials to threats, harassment, intimidation, assault, abduction and even rape.”