Group faults report indicting security agencies on 2019 elections

The Centre for Democracy and Developmental Research (CDCR) has dismissed a report on voter intimidation by security agents during last year’s general election.

According to CDCR, the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria released by the US Department of State did not give the actual picture of situation of things.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja, Johnson Bewaji, president of the group, wondered how the US Department of State arrived at this conclusion.

Bewaji said some international observers adjudged the elections as one of the most transparent in the history of the country.

The Centre said the Nigerian Army, Department of State Service and other security agencies played patriotic role during the exercise.

CDCR said the report could be “another grand plot” to discredit the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Centre for Democracy and Developmental Research, therefore, advised Nigerians to ignore the report and others in this same direction aimed to paint the current government in bad light.

“The Centre for Democracy and Development Research is holding this press conference to put issues in proper perspective with regards to the allegations against the Nigeria Security Agencies by the US Department of State in its 2019 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria,” Bewaji said.

“The report, amongst other things, alleged that there were high incidences of voters’ intimidation by Nigerian security agents, including the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Army, during the 2019 general elections. The report also alleged that these supposed acts fuelled the impression that the Nigerian Army worked for the success of the ruling All Progressives Congress during the general elections.

“The Centre for Democracy and Development Research as a result of this wish to state that both local and international observers closely monitored the 2019 general elections in Nigeria and the Centre for Democracy and Development Research was amongst the accredited international observer groups that traversed the length and breadth of the country during and after the elections.

“It is succinct to state that during the elections, the role of the Nigerian Army was invaluable in the sense that it was able to maintain sanity and integrity during the entire election period by ensuring that the activities of political thugs and others do not hamper the credibility of the elections in any way.

“We also wish to state that the officers and men of the Nigerian Army indeed saved the day in the areas that were prone to violence. This undeniable fact was highlighted in our interim report after the elections, and we are consequently bewildered as to the source of the information of the US Department of State in its 2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Nigeria.”