European Union (EU) observers have said that soldiers deployed to Rivers State stopped them from monitoring Saturday’s Governorship and State Assembly elections in the state.

According to the preliminary report released in Abuja on Monday by the Head of the European Union Observer Group, Maria Arena, the group said the military men stopped them from monitoring the Rivers elections even when they came to Nigeria on the invitation of INEC to monitor and make recommendations.

“Observers, including EU observers were denied access to collation centres in Rivers, apparently by military personnel. This lack of access for observers compromises transparency and trust in the process

“In Rivers, INEC suspended, until further notice the elections due to violence in polling units and collation centres, staff being taken hostage and election materials, including results sheets, seized or destroyed by unauthorized persons

“There is no doubt that the electoral process there was severely compromised” Arena, who is also a member of the EU Parliament said. 

She disclosed that the EU deployed 73 observers who were mandated to observe the voting process as well as the counting and  collation of results in all the  states where the polls were conducted.

Arena further expressed disappointment over the violence, underage voting and vote-buying which marred the Governorship and House of Assembly elections which they monitored across 223 polling units in 81 collation centres.

“Although election operations improved, the elections were also marked by an overall low turnout and violence, including against election officials and voters.

“However, at eight polling units observed, we saw indications of vote-buying. Eight cases of obvious underage voting were also observed. Our observers saw that the counting of ballots were transparent overall.

“Positively, in almost all cases, party agents received copies of the result forms although they were often not displayed.

“The environment for these elections has been difficult, with cases of violence and intimidation, including attacks on election administration officials,” she added.