Francis Ogbuagu 
Following the announcement of the presidential and National Assembly election results, the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding- Nigeria (WANEP-Nigeria) has called on Nigerians to toe the path of peace irrespective of the perceived lack of transparency and trust in the system to avoid violence.
The call was contained in a press statement made available to newsmen by WANEP’s Head of Programme – Mrs Patience Ikpeh-Obaulo.
The statement stated that despite the signing of two Peace Accords by candidates of the political parties competing in the elections, committing fully to supporting all efforts that will ensure a peaceful transition, pre-electoral violence had continued to bedevil the country.
Among its most worrisome manifestations were the attacks on offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which clearly aim to undermine the electoral process itself.
In Kano, Enugu and Ebonyi States pre- electoral violence had left 15 reportedly killed by unknown gunmen two days before the elections with the Nigerian Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) committing to deploying massive personnel across the country to avert threats of violence that could impact the peaceful conduct of elections.
The elections took place amidst general insecurity in the Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and South-South geopolitical zones.
The statement reads, “On 25 February 2023, Nigeria held the Presidential and National Assembly elections. This was the seventh successive general election since the return to multiparty democracy in 1999.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in preparation for the elections, among the key reforms in the Electoral Act, 2022 included the conduct of early primaries by political parties, the introduction of the Bi-Modal Voters Accreditation System (BVAs) and the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV) to ensure the integrity and credibility of the elections.
“To further enhance the process, amongst the 93.4 million registered voters, 9.5 million voters were registered ahead of the 2023 elections of whom two- third were young persons and 47.5% were women.
“This marked an 11.3% increase from the 84,004,084 voters recorded in the 2019 general elections. Other provisions by INEC included the training of technical personnel and the provision of logistics to ensure the smooth outcome of the elections.
“However. the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding Nigeria (WANEP- Nigeria) on behalf of its over 250 member organizations spread across the six geo-political zones wish to express deep concern over the conduct of the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly Elections conducted across the 36 states in the country.
“WANEP–Nigeria, a network established to provide an organized platform for collaborative peacebuilding in Nigeria by indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations working in the area of conflict, peace and security implores the government to take urgent action to douse the tensions building up due to citizens’ dissatisfaction of the conduct of the general elections with a pocket of protests being witnessed in Abuja and other parts of the country.
“As a contribution towards ensuring credible and violence-free elections, WANEP- Nigeria created a Social Media Platform and Organized a Virtual Election Situation Room on February 25, 2023.
“The situation room comprised 12 conflict analysts linked with over 500 domestic observers across the 36 states of the federation. The analysts and observers gave real-time incident reports and situation updates on the election.
“The observations and situational updates on electoral violence in the over 900 electoral wards comprising different polling units during the voting process have generated lots of tension.
“The main objective of the Virtual Election Situation Room was to monitor the elections and ensure an impartial assessment of the electoral process. The analysts and observers engaged with key stakeholders including INEC officials and the security agency.
