After several hiccups along the way, Nigerians trooped out for what is believed to be the last round of elections for the year, the 2019 supplementary election, held on March 23.

At the end of the general gubernatorial elections on the 9th of March, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forced to reschedule the elections in six states including: Benue, Adamawa, Plateau, Sokoto, Kano and Bauchi.

These states’ elections were declared inconclusive as a result of irregularities recorded during the collation process, ranging from violence and several incidents of ballot box snatching, to inadequacies in the votes that forced the commission to arrange supplementary polls.

Benue state’s incumbent governor and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Samuel Ortom won his second term election bid with 434,473 votes. However, incidences of violence were recorded in the state with youths in Chito, the headquarters of Azendasha ward, Ukum Local Government Area, snatching and burning election materials.

INEC officials and PDP agents were also attacked during the elections in Ukum Local Government Area.

In Bauchi state, allegations were leveled against the police, with members of the security agency allegedly abducting INEC staff and stuffing ballot boxes during the elections.

While a large turnout was recorded during the elections, eyebrows were raised when the Returning Officer of the state failed to show up at the collation centre at the chosen time for result collation to begin.

Arriving almost 10 hours later, the collation process started without any explanation for the RO’s absence.

APC members were allegedly attacked by youths in the Nassarawo Jereng area of Adamawa State during the collation of results for Nassarawo/Binyeri House of Assembly elections, although security agencies have reiterated that they were satisfied with the way the election was conducted.

The supplementary polls in Plateau and Sokoto states were unlike the other states, as the election was conducted in a peaceful manner, with no known records of violence or vote buying.

Sokoto State recorded a massive turnout of voters, with elections commencing as early as 8am on Saturday.

Unfortunately, Kano State elections recorded several acts of violence and unrest, with thugs allegedly using dangerous weapons to attack and intimidate voters. This eventually resulted in the death of about four PDP supporters in the state.

This, in turn, prompted the PDP to request that the elections be cancelled.

Additionally, the PDP noted that its candidate was in the clear lead during the March 9 polls, which makes his current loss suspicious.

The party also accused the opposition and incumbent governor Abdullahi Ganduje, of using thugs to oppress voters and carry out electoral malpractice.

While, the supplementary polls seemed to be a bit of an improvement, it still fell short in terms of what a democratic election process should be like. Voter intimidation and killings still seem to be a major flaw in the Nigerian electoral process and it needs to be properly evaluated.