2023 General Elections as Observed by the COFP Foundation

Earlier in the year, the COFP Foundation got the privilege of being accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to observe and monitor Nigeria’s 2023 general elections. The first of the exercise was the Presidential and National Assembly elections which took place on Saturday, 25th February 2023. The second and final lap was the Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly elections which held on Saturday 18th March, 2023. The COFP carried out this major assignment of monitoring the 2023 general elections, keeping its major goals in the forefront, namely, driving social change, conflict resolution, promoting good governance, and enhancing the culture of peace among adherents of different faiths and culture.

The short-term observation mission deployed by the COFP Foundation for the Presidential elections listed 84 Peace Fellows who served as observers across 30 states in Nigeria, including the Federal Capital Territory. The same number of Peace Fellows were also listed to observe the Gubernatorial elections in 30 states of Nigeria, excluding the FCT. After undergoing a thorough training program on election monitoring and observation, the observation team carried out its mandate in all areas of the electoral process following international standards and commitments for democratic elections and the already binding laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

During the election monitoring by our organization, we observed that the presidential and gubernatorial elections were faced with diverse challenges at the various polling units such as late arrival of coordinating officials, malfunctioning of the BVAS machines, inability to transmit presidential election results electronical from polling units to INEC Irev, the intimidation of voters, vote buying, disenfranchisement and the likes. These challenges did not stop the election process in the polling units observed by the COFP team but mar the process. Based on our observations, our team came up with recommendations for consideration by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as remedies for the reduction of voter disenfranchisement, to safeguard Nigeria’s democracy and amplify the voices of Nigerian citizens. Below are only a few recommendations from those already listed on the comprehensive election report. You can visit our website to read in full https://cofpfoundation.org/resources/

  1. There is a need for INEC to improve on election logistics, as issues like delayed arrival of officials as well as insufficient election materials have become a recurring decimal in our elections.
  2. A number of the officials appeared to be unfamiliar with the BVAS machines, hence, they experienced some difficulty using it. As such, we recommend that INEC should organize a more thorough, hands-on training program on the use of BVAS before sending them out subsequently. The machines should also be checked, charged and serviced adequately before it is dispatched to the field for use.
  3. To increase transparency and build a higher level of confidence, INEC should not only keep to the promises made before elections but stick and abide by their laws by uploading their result to the portal immediately they are received or cancel election in places or situations where there is glaring irregularity or malfunctioning of technology. Furthermore, INEC should tackle network connectivity problems in order to guarantee that results received can be transmitted electronically from BVAS at the polling units as promised.
  4. We recommend that the security agents should ensure that the right of the citizens to vote freely during elections is protected while INEC should enforce this process by not declaring any party involved in irregularity winner in such polling units.
  5. The voter education department in INEC, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and other Civil Society Organizations should increase voter education to reduce voter apathy which was visible in virtually all polling units our team observed during the gubernatorial elections.

Although the election process was not without its unique challenges, we must commend the efforts and commitment of all agents, officers, and voters alike for coming out to exercise their right to vote for their preferred candidate. The general conduct of voters was impressive to say the least and how most groups were able to show composure in the face of challenges is simply exceptional.