A coalition of civil society organisations under the Network of Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria has commended the conduct of the Enugu North Senatorial District by-election held on Saturday, describing it as peaceful, transparent and reflective of the will of the people.
Speaking to journalists in Enugu on Monday, the coalition’s spokesperson, Abubakar Musa, said the election marked a “vital step towards transparent election,” adding that observers monitored key stages of the electoral process, including the distribution of election materials and deployment of officials.
He noted that the poll was conducted across six local government areas, covering 102 electoral wards, with 727,340 registered voters and 184,094 accredited voters.
According to him, seven political parties participated in the exercise, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Africa Democratic Congress (ADC), Boot Party (BP), Nigeria Democratic Party (NDP) and Peoples Redemption Party (PRP).
The coalition said security agencies maintained order throughout the exercise, while vote counting and collation were carried out in the presence of party agents and security personnel.
However, it observed delays in some polling units due to BVAS malfunctions and late arrival of election materials and personnel, which affected the timely commencement of voting in those areas.
“In some few areas, there were reports of malfunction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), which caused delays in accreditation and voting. None of our observers reported any shortage of voting materials in the polling units visited,” Musa said.
The coalition recommended that INEC improve BVAS performance ahead of the 2027 general elections, strengthen logistics, and ensure more balanced deployment of security personnel, while also urging candidates and supporters to accept the outcome as a reflection of the people’s will.
