BY GEORGE IWU, ENUGU, With Agency Report
A Women group, The Women’s Aid Collective (WACO) have made a shocking revelation on the number of those who were killed and injured during the just concluded general elections in the South East zone
In its report presented to journalists and members of the Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, in Enugu, WACOL gave a detailed account of how 18 persons were killed in the South East zone, while 530 persons suffered various degrees of injuries.
The report of the Nigeria Election Violence Report (NEVR) project for the 2019 general elections in the zone showed that Enugu State recorded one death, Imo State recorded six deaths, Anambra State recorded two, while Ebonyi State recorded nine deaths, the highest in the zone.
Dr. Malachy Ochie, a researcher and data analyst with WACOL, who presented the report, said that the project was envisioned to develop the capacity of civil society to monitor, analyze and respond to incidents of election-related conflict/violence before, during and after the elections in Nigeria, as well as to promote collaboration and dialogue between election stakeholders in order to mitigate and/or prevent election violence.
Ochie, who is also a Senior lecturer at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), said apart from Enugu State where incidences of election violence were minimal, elections in other states were characterized with violence, thuggery, killings and destruction of property.
Ochie said that 18 cases of violence, which included burning of campaign vehicles were recorded in Enugu state, while in Abia State a total of 32 violence cases were recorded. In Imo State a total of 84 violence cases were recorded, out of which six people were killed while 306 people were injured.
Anambra state recorded 27 cases, out of which two people were killed, while 18 people were injured.
He said that Ebonyi State recorded 124 violence cases out of which nine people died, 91 people injured, eight vehicles were destroyed, 10 houses burnt while 15 motorcycles were destroyed.
“Apart from reported incidences of violence in places like Ebonyi, Abia and Imo, our monitors equally reported large scale of vote buying and voter-intimidation by political thugs,” he said.
Stakeholders at the event recommended the introduction of electronic voting in future polls to mitigate the incidences of election violence in Nigeria.
The project was carried out by the Womens Aid Collative (WACOL), in partnership with the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES).