By Ezra Ukanwa, Abuja.

AS the Presidential and National Assembly elections get underway, the situation room of the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria has berated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, over mismanagement of the electoral process, and late deployment of election materials across the country.

The group, also known as Caritas Nigeria, however, demanded a complete ballot audit, rerun of elections in violence prone areas, and the seamless overhauling of most of the Commissioners of the INEC.

The National Director, Church and Society Department of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria and CEO, Caritas Nigeria, Revd. Fr. Uchechukwu Obodoechina, who spoke on behalf of the group, said the aforementioned demands were necessary to avert civil disobedience across the country.

Describing the deployment of election materials across the country as snail-pace, he alleged that there were indications that signalled sabotage seeing how certain state officials made the arrival of materials difficult in order to gain political advantage for their parties.

Commending the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, Obodoechina said unprecedented and evil manipulation of the system in more than 30% of the Polling Units occasioned the process.

He, therefore, said that the foregoing suggests a calculated “ploy by INEC to compromise precedents set by well-meaning Nigerians through the struggles and tussles that led to the passage into law of the 2022 Electoral Act.

He said: “It is with deep regret that we announce our total disappointment with the snail-pace deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive materials in more than 50% of the 176,606 polling units across the country.

“It is not only disheartening to imagine that after the declaration of curfew before the election and the accompanying empty roads and streets, but INEC officials and security personnel were also unable to reach more than 60% of the Polling Units nationwide before 12 pm.

“In the FCT, we noted in utter amazement, the poor deployment of materials to Polling Units whose distance is not more than 5 kilometres from the FCT Commission Office. This is unsatisfactory, coming from an INEC.

“However, the unprecedented and evil manipulation of the system in more than 30% of the Polling Units indicates a systematic ploy by INEC to compromise the precedents set by well-meaning Nigerians through the struggles and tussles that led to the passage into law of the 2022 Electoral Act.

“Otherwise, how do we explain, for instance, the deployment of one BIVAS machine in polling units having more than 2000 voters who had waited for more than five hours in long queues without the sight of INEC officials?

“With about 4 years of preparation for the 2023 General Elections, no justifiable reason can help placate the impact of this malfunctioning of the BIVAS.

“While the hope and trust that Nigerians have in them are arguably dashed, we cannot but state, most unequivocally, that things are beginning to fall apart. This is not the path we have desired having risen from the shattering wreckages done by the Military rulership before 1999.

“Arising from this, therefore, we recommend with immediate effect, that ballot audit, fresh conduct of elections in areas where overwhelming violence took the day, and the seamless overhauling of most of the Commissioners of the INEC must happen to avert civil disobedience.”

He urged Nigerians not to be discouraged but to wait patiently for the full results of the poll, adding that Nigerians must go out for the next round of the elections come 11th March, 2023.