The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, on Tuesday, said “conducting isolated elections in Nigeria can be challenging.”
This was as he urged security agencies to provide a secure environment for the conduct of the rerun/by-elections scheduled for February 3.
Also, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, said election-related violence, intimidation and other security threats must be managed to uphold the credibility of the electoral process.
The by-elections became necessary after some members of the national and state Houses of Assembly died.
About 74 candidates would take part in the by-elections.
Yakubu, speaking at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security on Tuesday in Abuja, said without a secure and peaceful environment, the conduct of credible elections would be imperiled.
The INEC Chairman said, “As you are all aware, the election is a multi-stakeholder responsibility. INEC has a role to play, and so too are other stakeholders. As security agencies, it is your responsibility to secure the environment to enable us to deploy personnel and materials, the protection of observers, the media as well as the polling and collation agents representing the political parties and candidates.
“From experience, conducting isolated elections, such as by-elections and re-runs, can be very challenging. We must pay attention to the potential for disruptive behaviour by some candidates and their supporters.”
He said a rerun conducted in one polling unit or a handful of polling units could be severely disrupted by acts of thuggery knowing full well that these few locations would determine the outcome of the election.
Yakubu said the Nigeria Police Force, as the lead agency for elections, had been provided with the full information of where the elections would be held and the number of Permanent Voter Cards collected, among others.
The INEC Chairman added that four additional orders of the Court of Appeal were served to the commission bringing the total number of affected national and state constituencies to 39 where elections would be held.
He said, “In my remarks at the commission’s extraordinary meeting with leaders of political parties last month, I reported that the elections affect 35 national and state constituencies. Since then, four additional orders of the Court of Appeal have been served on the commission in respect of Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency of Sokoto State, Madara/Chinade State Constituency of Bauchi State as well as Kudan and Kauru/Chawai State Constituencies of Kaduna State.
“This brings the total number of affected constituencies to 39 which translates to 2.6 per cent of the 1,491 constituencies for which elections were conducted nationwide in the 2023 general elections.
“The nine by-elections are fresh elections covering the entire constituencies. However, except for three Constituencies (Plateau North Senatorial District Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency in Plateau State and Kachia/Kagarko Federal Constituency in Kaduna State), the re-run elections are to be held in a few polling units. In some cases, only one Polling Unit is affected in an entire Federal or State Constituency.”
The NSA, who was represented by his staff, Hassan Abdullahi, said “The Office of the NSA and security agencies under the platform of ICCES will sustain collaboration with INEC to ensure that elections are conducted in a secure and peaceful environment.
“In this regard, the coordination of security operations, deployment of personnel and adoption of proactive security measures will be paramount.”
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
