PRELIMINARY STATEMENT ON THE CONDUCT OF 2015 NIGERIA PRESIDENTIAL AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Background
As in every election since 2003, CLEEN Foundation deployed observers during the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday 28th March, 2015. With support from Justice for All (J4A) Program of UK Department for International Development (DFID), CLEEN Foundation recruited, trained and mobilised a team of five hundred and twelve election observers to observe the conduct of security personnel in order to measure their effectiveness and adherence to the benchmark of acceptable behaviour. Furthermore, the Foundation printed and circulated posters and flyers of the abridged version of the Police Service Commission’s Guidelines for the Conduct of Security Personnel on Election Duty with the aim of enlightening the police and the general public in this important exercise and to provide the public with hot-lines for complaints, report and commendation on the general conduct of the security personnel and the election proceedings in general. This interim report presents our findings during the just concluded presidential and national assembly elections in Nigeria.
Observations
a) Punctuality and adequacy of officers: Majority of deployed security officials arrived their duty stations before the opening of the polls at 8:00am. Furthermore, they remained at their post except for a few short breaks.
b) Civility and impartiality of officers: Security officials were observed to be approachable and impartial in their duty.
c) Orderliness and feeling of safety at the polling units: Majority of polling units were seen to be orderly and most observers felt safe.
d) Use of Force: In majority of polling units observed, security agents did not resort to the use of force.
e) Overall Assessment of Officers: Over all, observers rated the conduct of the security officials on election duty to be “good”.
Recommendations
1. Logistics arrangement that would enable prompt commencement and effective administration of voting at polling units should be improved.
2. Establishment of additional polling units to reduce voters crowd and enhance voting processes and effective policing of elections
3. Continuous improvement in technology driven electoral process by the country
4. Integration of election security curriculum into the trainings of the Nigeria security personnel
5. Sustain the monitoring of the conduct of security officials on election duty as mechanism for improved professionalism.
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