The Election Reform Expert Group, a coalition of civil society organisations, on Tuesday condemned incessant blackmail and intimidation of electoral officers by political actors.
This is contained in a statement jointly issued in Abuja by Dr Chima Amadi of Centre for Transparency Advocacy, Mr Eze Nwagwu of Partners for Electoral Reforms and five others.
According to the statement, such attacks on electoral officers are capable of derailing free, fair and credible electoral system that guaranteed the rights of the electorate to freely choose their leaders.
“These political actors have turned an ordinary action of political recruitment into a dance of the absurd, unleashing terror, mayhem and inflicting pains, sorrow and death on the electorate and electoral umpires,’’ the group said.
The group further condemned recent violence that derailed Rivers re-run elections.
They also blamed the inconclusive elections in parts of Bayelsa and Imo on unnecessary violence, noting that continued attack on INEC facilities and harassment of the commission’s staff was unacceptable.
“Elections in Nigerian have become a theatre of war due to the activities of these political gladiators.
“Nigerians should therefore take note of the dangerous dimensions and boundless limits that these detractors are prepared to cross in their attempt to discredit the Election Management Board.’’
The group assured that it would continue to engage INEC on the best approaches to improve the country’s electoral processes.