CLEEN Foundation has highlighted the challenges of undue manipulations and politics of godfatherism that undermine transparency and credibility of internal party politics in Nigeria.
According to him,majority of the survey respondents held the view that widespread availability and use of hard drugs can precipitate electoral violence in the states.
He said the view that widespread availability and use of hard drugs can bring about electoral violence was shared by residents in both rural and urban areas, and held mostly by people of 18 -39 years.
Benson also said the survey indicates that low sense of safety among members of the public essentially due to the inability of the security agents to tackle banditry, kidnapping, and assassination (4.12) tops the list of factors that could lead to electoral violence, followed by partiality of security agents (4.07).
“The results show that exclusion of certain groups on the bases of age, gender and religious identity can lead to electoral violence. Across the states survey, the respondents believe that the exclusion of youth, minority groups and women can contribute to violence during elections.
“Going by the national average score, the survey indicates that ‘problems associated with the distribution, location and adequacy of polling units and voting points’ (4.02) is the principal factor most likely to cause electoral violence.
He recommended that there was need for the INEC in partnership with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) to collaborate with other relevant stakeholders to develop a standard Protocol on Engagement of Security Agencies on Election Duties in Nigeria.
He said there is the need to integrate conflict risk analysis into election security management to track and proactively respond to the dynamics of local conflict that could exacerbate electoral risks.
“Our survey also suggests the need for capacity building programmes for some of the critical elections stakeholders to enhance professionalism and accountability in the discharge of their duties.
“INEC needs to be more involved in monitoring internal party processes and primaries with enhanced capacity to impose appropriate sanctions on erring parties,” he said.
