Jan. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A group of ten Nigerian civil society organizations have warned that next month’s presidential elections are in serious danger of manipulation in 22 states of the country in the form of falsifying votes or voter registration, among other crimes.
In its document, presented this past Friday and collected by the ‘Premium Times’, the coalition puts the states of Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti on red alert , Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Kaduna, Bauchi, Adamawa, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Jigawa.
These organizations warn that attempts to distort the results of the elections “through manipulation strategies are on the rise” and ask citizens to make use of the report presented on Friday — Electoral Manipulation Risk Index (EMRI) — to be Watch out for any irregularities.
The report has been prepared by Yiaga Africa, Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, SBM Intelligence, Dataphye, International Press Center, Institute for Media and Society, Partners for Electoral Reform, Albino Foundation, Kukah Center and Basta means Enough Nigeria.
The elections on February 25 are marked by the end of the mandate of the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, and by such significant candidacies as those of former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu and former Anambra governor Peter Obi, in the middle of a major security crisis due to the activity of “bandits” and the expansion of terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram and its splinter, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) to other parts of the north and center of the African country.
