The fretfulness shrouded on elections is one of the characteristics individuals get to experience before an election. Elections are critical moments that if not well controlled can inadvertently cause pandemonium. Fixing those loopholes that might warrant post-elections crises are some of the reasons election observers are invited to checkmate election activities.
An observer is basically, an individual, groups, assigned to stay put in a place (country) for a limited period of time, before the election, during the election and probably wait until the results are announced.
The Nigerian political system apparently, is slightly different from other climes. One huge advantages of running a democratic system of government is the room for fairness in its rule of law.
Since 1999 Nigeria became a democratic nation, series of elections have been held; with domestic and international observers granted permission to monitor the elections. However, these observers mostly, domestic from all holistic angle, only act as puppets to political aspirants.
In the quest to deliver a credible election, international observers most especially are deemed worthy to monitor election proceedings. The invitation is baseless when these accredited observers do not have the luxury to have a full reportage of the elections. The altercations between the election observers and security operatives, had remained an issue to worry about.
Ideally, the presence of security operatives during an election is meant to create sanity. However, the case isn’t so in some couple of elections carried out in Nigeria. Observers especially domestic observers, have seldomly been accused of exhibiting laxity in their quest to monitor election proceedings. Issues ranging from money exchanging hands during elections were never reported.
On the other hand, the presence of security operatives during the elections seem inconsequential as many of the electorates believe, these agencies are mercenaries for election rigging. Furthermore, cases of preventing observers from going close to collation centres is an issue to account for.
No doubt there is room for improvement, conducting a free and fair election can be achieved when the right tools are effectively carried out.