HeadlineINEC, Security Operatives And 2023 Election

INEC, Security Operatives And 2023 Election

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With less than 60 days to the Presidential election, Nigerians are agitated about having a free, fair and credible poll. Their anxiety is anchored on the conduct of past elections which were not satisfactory to the generality of the Nigerian electorate.

Aside from the politicians, two bodies are very important to the determinant of a successful election in Nigeria. The two bodies are the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), saddled with the conduct of the elections in the country and the Security operatives led by the Nigeria Police Force and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC; the Nigerian Army, among

others that are expected to provide security for INEC officials, facilities and the voters.

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Successful conduct of the next elections therefore rests squarely on how effective these two bodies carry out their assigned duties.

The question on the lips of Nigerians now is, how prepared are the two bodies for the coming elections?

While INEC has consistently assured Nigerians that the 2023 elections will be free, fair and credible, the insecurity that has pervaded the country for years now is giving Nigerians some fear.

The recent incident which has to do with the attack on INEC facilities across the country has made people doubt the readiness of the police and other security operatives for the coming elections.

Chairman of INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has equally raised the alarm that the 2023 general election might be jeopardised if the spate of attacks on its facilities across the country is not checked.

Yakubu raised the alarm while speaking at a public hearing by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating attacks on INEC offices and facilities across the country.

He stated that despite the attacks, the Commission was determined to continue with the preparations for the elections, warning, however, that the implications would be far reaching if not curtailed.

“We are determined that we will continue with our preparations for the 2023 general election. All the facilities would be rebuilt or alternatives found and materials would be replaced. However, should such attacks continue at the pace at which they are happening at the moment, the Commission may find it increasingly difficult to recover in time for the election? If it is about the attacks, yes we can recover, but if the attacks continue, it would be very difficult for the commission to recover. That is why concerted efforts to stop these attacks have become imperative and we hope this public hearing would contribute to the required outcome,” he said.

He added: “The attacks have far-reaching implications on preparation for the general election. First, the facilities that are destroyed, especially offices, would take time to rebuild. They are not like items of procurement that you can procure off the shelf.

“So, an alternative arrangement has to be made. In some of the states, in addition to these malicious attacks, other matters that have arisen as a result of fire and flooding, we would have to make alternative arrangements by renting. In some places, we can find facilities to rent. In some of the remote areas, we may not find facilities to rent. So, we have to look for alternatives to damaged facilities.

“Secondly, several materials lost would have to be replaced. In the recent attacks, some of the PVCs for instance were lost. For the PVCs, we have instructed our state offices to send the Voter Identification Numbers of the PVCs lost so we can reprint. We can, from our database, quickly regenerate and reprint the cards so that citizens are not disenfranchised.

“The Commission and security agencies must also continue to provide safety around the facilities and this, as I said earlier, may be very challenging, because the security agencies are also protecting all of us and other national assets.

“Now, we have to rebuild the facilities and our funds are over stretched by a number of factors. We cannot continue to replace and rebuild. And what is even more worrisome for us is the attack in Izzi local council of Ebonyi State. The building was first attacked on May 18, 2012. We found the resources in our election project plan budget to rebuild the office and we did so. We rebuilt the office and our staff moved in on Friday. On Sunday that weekend, the office was burnt down again and there are five such offices nationwide where in spite of our best efforts, the facility was attacked not only once, but twice.

We have five offices in which even after rebuilding or trying to rebuild, the offices were attacked again.”

But despite the attack on its facilities, INEC has said that the time has come for it to organise the freest and fairest election in Africa.

The National Commissioner for Information and Voter Education, Barrister Festus Okoye, said this at the 2022 Calabar Carnival, while sensitising Nigerians on the upcoming General Elections.

Okoye, therefore, urged officials of the commission “to show Nigerians that they have the capacity to do so”.

He said that the commission decided to participate in the carnival to sensitise and encourage Nigerians to collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and vote in the elections.

Okoye said that Nigerians needed to know that their PVCs have potency.

According to him, if it hadn’t, politicians would not be struggling to buy them from prospective voters.

“My message to Nigerians is that only the PVC can change their circumstances.

Therefore, those who do not have their PVCs have no business in the electoral process.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that the PVCs are available for the people and to organise free, fair and credible elections.

“It is also to ensure that those Nigerians say who should win the 2023 election.

“The time had come for us to organise the freest and fairest election on the continent of Africa,” he said.

Okoye in a chat with THEWILL also said that the electoral umpire will continue the usage of Bimodal Voter Authentication System (BVAS) which he said worked perfectly in some recent state elections conducted in the country.

As if reiterating the importance of security agencies to the successful conduct of the coming election, only last Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari charged security agencies that would be engaged with various support services in the 2023 elections to maintain a high sense of professionalism.

Buhari who was speaking at the commissioning of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) newly acquired Estate in Idu-Karmo, Abuja, urged the agencies to handle the distribution and monitoring of classified materials and other logistics ‘‘professionally and in accordance with Standing Operation Procedures.’’

He urged security agencies to remain apolitical, and that they must desist from behaviour that could bring disrepute to their organisations and the country ‘‘by compromising the democratic process.’’

The President said the befitting accommodation just provided would enhance productivity and coordination of activities of staff of the Agency in view of increasing number of personnel to face new challenges and responsibilities.

Also, the election leading security agency, the Nigeria Police Force has also expressed its readiness for the forthcoming election saying it is determined to ensure a peaceful election.

Inspector-general of Police (IGP), Alkali Usman Baba, said he is poised to lead the police to provide a peaceful environment for the 2023 general election.

The police chief maintained that instead of agitation, government could be changed through election and as such the security agencies must do everything humanly possible to provide a conducive environment for a peaceful election to take place.

“Election is a lawful means of choosing our leaders. We shall provide a conducive environment for the election to take place peacefully,” he said.

The IGP said there was the need to provide police personnel with a good working environment to enable them to perform optimally.

Baba has also said the police have devised strategies to arrest and prosecute politicians moving on election days with tons of cash for vote buying.

He said concerted efforts are being made by the Nigeria police as the lead agency in electoral security management to ensure that the use of money is not allowed to influence the 2023 general elections.

“We will ensure that at least, this menace is brought to the barest minimum.

“We will achieve this in synergy with sister security agencies, anti-graft and intelligence agencies and other stakeholders”, he said.

He said already, a lot of arrests have been made of persons buying voter registration cards to rig the 2023 elections.

He added that some political thugs have also been arrested and are being prosecuted in courts.

“We will also ensure that the police X-Squad, intelligence officers and investigators are moved to the field to ensure that politicians moving on election days to buy votes are apprehended and dealt with according to the provisions of the law,” he added.

The IGP said the Force had embedded intelligence officers during political rallies to identify with precision, persons encouraging and perpetrating violence.

“Let me state again emphatically that the use of money during the 2023 elections is unacceptable and we will do all we can within the confines of the law to bring the offenders to book.

“Some politicians spend huge sums of money to get elected to office, thus their priority having been elected is to recoup the money they spent during the election.

“The consequence of this is that those elected provide poor governance and deny the public the benefit of good governance, as they most likely are not the best candidates.

“When elections are influenced by money, credibility of the process is questioned. This leads to rancour and the possibility of violence after the elections.”

Baba said the police were also ready to deal with sponsors of violence before, during and after the elections.

“Some politicians often use money to sponsor restive youths who are readily available and willing to be mobilised as political thugs and to wreak mayhem on opponents and voters.

“We have seen this in the current political campaigns and this violence could spread to the post election if the use of money is not checked.

“We cannot rule out attempts to entice the political umpires and security agents with money to influence the outcome of elections,” he said.

He however warned that anyone caught would face the full wrath of the law.

Political analysts and watchers of political developments are watching eagerly too to see how the security agencies and INEC will bring about a free , fair, and credible election in the February /March 2023 general elections.

About the Author

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AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

Ayo Esan, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.

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