With less than four days to the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections billed to hold next Saturday, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj Gen Babagana Monguno (rtd), and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have called on political bigwigs and gladiators to call their supporters to order.
Monguno also urged all eligible voters to be civil and orderly while exercising their franchise, warning that anybody who is itching to undermine the process should have a rethink.
Speaking at a meeting of the Inter-agency consultative committee on election security (ICCES) in Abuja yesterday, the NSA said he does not envisage anything that is going to be terrible or apocalyptic in terms of the next few days.
Monguno however said this does not mean that Nigerians should do away with a state of readiness, just as he stressed the need to comply with the electioneering rules.
“We must also allow everyone I’ve said this so many times to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens of this country,” he stated.
Urging the citizens to preempt and take the law into their own hands, the NSA said, “What we do not want to happen is for anybody to preempt, and to take the law into his or her own hands. I want to be very, very clear on this. We’re going to give the maximum support to all entities involved in this process.
“Those of us in the security agencies will continue to work around the clock. All the crisis centres are open; all the communication systems are also open. And we’ve been talking with the chairman of INEC.
“If there’s anything that needs to be done, anything that needs to be added, my office is always open, ready, and available to give that support. And I hope that Saturday will be a day that will come and go without any incidents.”
Monguno also commended the efforts of the various political parties and the individuals that participated in the last election who called for peace and calm.
He urged the same individuals, especially at the state level, to demonstrate the same level of maturity, the same level of discipline by calling their supporters to conduct themselves in a manner that is congruent with the expectations of the larger Nigerian society.
On his part, INEC stressed the need for parties and candidates to speak to their agents and supporters to see the elections as a contest and not war.
INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, said on Monday March 13, the commission held a virtual meeting with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in which it reviewed preparations for the state elections.
In addition to election technology, he said logistics and a host of other issues such as security were also discussed.
“We will present some of the issues at this meeting for further discussion and, most importantly, appropriate action,” he said.
He noted that the governorship and state assembly elections on Saturday involve more constituencies than the national elections held about three weeks ago.
“Unlike the last elections involving 470 constituencies (1 Presidential, 109 Senatorial Districts, and 360 House of Representatives seats), the State elections will involve 1,021 constituencies (28 Governorship and 993 State Assembly seats).
“There will also be more candidates involved and more collation centres to protect. There are also local elections involving keen contests. It is therefore important for parties and candidates to speak to their agents and supporters to see the elections as a contest and not war.
“They should refrain from acts of violence that may mar the elections or compromise the security of our personnel, observers, the media, and service providers,” Yakubu said.
He added that exactly three weeks ago, the commission met to review security arrangements for the presidential and National Assembly elections.
“Today, we are reviewing our preparations for the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections holding on Saturday 18th March 2023. As I welcome you to this meeting, I wish to express the Commission’s appreciation to the security agencies and other members of ICCES for the professionalism of personnel and the generally peaceful conduct of the elections,” he said.
He noted that the commission was looking forward to improved performance in the elections holding this weekend.
“The governorship elections will be held in 28 States of the Federation. As you are aware, Governorship elections in eight States (Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo, and Osun States) are held off-cycle and therefore not conducted during the General Election.
“However, elections will be conducted for all the 993 State constituencies nationwide. Our State offices have made available to the Nigeria Police Force, being the lead agency in election security, the delimitation details for both the Governorship and State Assembly elections, including locations of polling units and collation centres.
“On that basis, we expect a coordinated deployment plan in synergy with other security, intelligence, law enforcement, and safety agencies,” he said.
The INEC chairman added that the commission is encouraged by the directive to state commands by the inspector-general of police (IGP) to handle all cases of electoral offences expeditiously.
“We look forward to receiving the case files. We will immediately set up a legal team to handle such cases in earnest,” he stated.
