16% of observers reported that they witnessed attacks on women at rallies, while 18% reported that they had heard of such attacks. 67% reported that they had received no reports of violence targeting women at rallies.
The Stop-FIDA hotline received reports of all categories of violence, primarily physical violence and threats and coercion. The reported incidents were evaluated by a response team, to determine what response was needed, and whether the incidents should be referred to another stakeholder, such as the police or a service provider for victim support.
Nigerian elections require voters to be accredited before voting. In Bayelsa, observers deployed by TMG reported slightly more incidents of violence and intimidation against male voters during this process than against female voters.
Hate speech was an important form of violence that TMG monitored throughout each election. As in Bayelsa, observers stationed in Kogi during the pre-election period reported incidents of both men and women engaging in hate speech.
Overall levels of reported hate speech were small, but during the pre-election observation in Kogi, observers reported that victims of hate speech motivated by their gender, origin, age, religion or physical disabilities were primarily men, with few exceptions.
Hate speech was an important form of violence that TMG monitored throughout each election. In the case of Bayelsa during the pre-election period, observers reported incidents of both men and women engaging in hate speech.
Likewise, in the pre-election phase in Bayelsa, observers reported that victims of hate speech were both men and women, motivated by their gender, origin,age, religion or physical disabilities.
On its pre-election observation forms during the national election, TMG required its observers to indicate whether they had witnessed or heard of hate speech, violence or intimidation against candidates or their supporters because of their gender. 83% of observers did not witness or hear of any gender-based violence, but a small percentage did hear reports of acts of violence through credible sources and a few directly witnessed incidents of violence occurring.
The social benefit programs that had the highest number of reported incidents of coercion also also had the highest percentages of women enrolled, indicating that women were disproportionately impacted by coercion.
An area of concern prioritized in the observation was coercion of voters through social benefit programs. Of the incidents of coercion reported, the programs “Bono Seguro” and “Bolsa Segura” were the most likely to be targeted.
