THE Executive Director Challenge Parenthood Initiative, (CPI) Eunice Agbogun has said that during the just concluded Kogi Governorship election, 28 cases of violence against women was recorded.
Addressing newsmen in Lokoja she said that as of 17 November, 2019, the hotline received almost 100 calls reporting concerns about the integrity of the electoral process, cases of violence against women in the state and electoral malpractices.
“Our reports shows that women voters faced physical violence, threats to life, coercion, intimidation, harassment and vote buying.
“Attacks by armed thugs and party loyalists as well as tear gassing by security agents, represent 66.7 percent of incidents of physical violence experienced by women voters and resulted in many of them sustained injuries.
She also noted that in another instances, women were beaten by party loyalists and chased away from the polling units by thugs who wanted them to vote a particular candidate and also women who refused to vote a particular candidate had their permanent voters card forcibly taken from them.
Agbogun therefore recommend that Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agences should improve their collaboration to mitigate instances of ballot box snatching and invasion of polling units by thugs.
“Police should deploy all measures to ensure that perpetrators of violence during the election are apprehended, prosecuted and penalized
“Security agencies should enhance plans to safeguard the election and deliver violence free elections to make women feel safe to participate in subsequent election
“Political parties should eschew the do or die mentality approach to election and promote more democratic values
“Women should never be deterred by the ugly manifestation of our political processes but rather be resilient in their request for equitable representation in the decision making process of Nigeria,” she said.
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