By Joy Odor
The Chairman, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu has told Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) that without a secure and peaceful environment, the conduct of credible elections is imperilled.
This is sequel to the forthcoming by-elections scheduled to hold on February 3, 2024, as Prof Yakubu mandates ICCES to pay attention to the potentials for disruptive behaviour by some candidates and their supporters.
He maintained that arising from the reports the Commission received from the States, concerns have been raised about the impact of the prevailing insecurity in some States on the conduct of the elections, made worse by incendiary statements by some political actors.
Professor Yakubu who made this known on Tuesday in Abuja at the meeting with the National Security Adviser and Co-Chair of ICCES, the Inspector General of Police, representatives of the Service Chiefs, Heads of various Intelligence, Security and Law Enforcement Agencies, other members of ICCES and the Media.
tasked them to ensure security for the elections, saying the Commission has already provided the Nigeria Police Force, as the lead agency in election security, the full information of the locations where the elections will be held broken down by States.
INEC boss informed that as security agencies, it is their responsibility to secure the environment to enable them deploy personnel and materials, the protection of observers, the media as well as the polling and collation agents representing the political parties and candidates.
Prof Yakubu was of the opinion that the conduct of isolated elections such as bye-elections and re-run elections can be very challenging, saying a re-run election conducted in one Polling Unit or a handful of Polling Units can be severely disrupted by acts of thuggery knowing full well that these few locations will determine the outcome of the election.
“The updated information will be also be uploaded to the Commission’s website and social media platforms for public information immediately after this meeting.
“The nine bye-elections are fresh elections covering the entire constituencies. However, with the exception of three Constituencies (Plateau North Senatorial District and 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.
“What many people do not realize is that there is no election season in Nigeria any longer. Elections are held throughout the year between one general election and another.
“This adds to the enormous pressure on both INEC and the security agencies. For instance, in addition to the bye-elections and re-run elections holding next week, the Commission has also released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for the two off-cycle Governorship elections in Edo State scheduled for 21st September 2024 and Ondo State holding on 16th November 2024.
“As required by the Electoral Act 2022, party primaries and nomination of candidates shall be done not later than 180 days before the date fixed for the elections. Accordingly, party primaries for Edo State will commence next week and end three weeks later (i.e. 1st- 24th February 2024). For Ondo State, primaries will be held between 6th and 27th April 2024.
“Our collective experience as election managers and security agencies shows that party primaries can sometimes be more acrimonious than general elections. Therefore, as we prepare for the bye-elections and re-run elections, we should equally be prepared for the two major elections later in this year in Edo and Ondo States.
“There are two categories of elections. First are the bye-elections arising from the death or resignation of members of the National and State legislative houses affecting two Senatorial Districts, four Federal and three State Assembly Constituencies. The second category is the re-run elections by order of Election Petition Appeal Tribunals. 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% of the 1,491 Constituencies for which elections were conducted nationwide in the 2023 General Election” he said.
The INEC boss therefore announced 6th and 27th September as the dates for governorship primaries for Edo and Ondo states respectively.
Responding on behalf of ICCES, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Olukayode Egbetoku affirmed that the Force have conducted threat analysis in states where elections is going to take place and are going to deploy according to the threat assessment.
The IGP also informed that the Force is going to deploy adequately and massively for this election, just as it did in the last offseason election in Imo, Kogi and Bayelsa states.
He therefore assured Nigerians that the by election that is coming up is going to be conducted each free and fair and ensured safety of officials who are going to be deployed for the elections.
“We are going to ensure safety of the electorate’s who are going to come out to vote on the day of election.
“We will ensure safety of election materials. We are aware of all our responsibilities we already placed ahead of this election, and we are going to ensure that this election is conducted free and fair” he mentioned.
