Anti-democratic Forces’ May Sabotage 2023 Elections, Falana Warns

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on security agencies to apprehend those he claimed are “anti-democratic forces” bent on truncating the 2023 elections.

Falana raised the alarm yesterday evening during an interview with Channels Television monitored in Abuja.

He said that the state of insecurity in Nigeria was alarming based on a series of continued attacks by bandits, and Boko Haram members among others.

“The state of insecurity in Nigeria has also constituted a serious threat to the conduct of credible elections. It has been confirmed that elections cannot take place in the over 40 local government areas in different parts of the country which are firmly under the control of various armed gangs, including bandits, terrorists, and known and unknown gunmen. The territories seized by the criminal gangs are in Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara, Abia, and Imo States.

“Unless the security forces are prepared to deal with the anti-democratic forces that are currently disrupting the democratic process, the 2023 general elections may be sabotaged to the detriment of democracy and political stability in the country,” the lawyer added.

He said the security of electoral officials and election materials cannot be guaranteed in the seized territories, saying the authorities of the armed forces should ensure that an enabling environment exists for the conduct of elections in all the states of the federation.

He said during the last governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states it was widely reported that scores of vote buyers were arrested by operatives of the EFCC and ICPC, but the suspects were yet to be charged before any court.

Similarly, the hundreds of armed thugs arrested during the last primary elections of some of the registered political parties have been let off the hook.

‘’Unless the security forces are prepared to deal with the anti-democratic forces that are currently disrupting the democratic process the 2023 general elections may be sabotaged to the detriment of democracy and political stability in the country,’’ he said.