FG GIVES ASSURANCE THAT THE 2023 ELECTIONS WILL HOLD DESPITE INSECURITY CHALLENGES

The general elections will take place as scheduled next month, the federal government announced Tuesday.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, provided the assurance at the 17th Abuja meeting of President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard series from 2015 to 2023.

The minister’s assurance came in following the warning of the election conducting body. The Independent National Electoral Commission, that the 2023 elections may be postponed or cancelled if the nation’s growing wave of election-related insecurity was not addressed.

At the validation of election security training resources in Abuja, INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu who was represented by Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, Chairman of the Board of The Electoral Institute TEI, INEC’s training arm had said: “If the insecurity is not monitored and dealt with decisively, it could ultimately culminate in the cancellation and/or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of elections results and precipitate a constitutional crisis.

“This must not be allowed to happen and shall not be allowed to happen. Therefore, security personnel in particular and all elected officials, in general, must be security-conscious and alert to unusual activities in their environment and must be fully equipped to deal with any challenge at all times.”

However, Mohammed insisted that the elections will go ahead and added that the Federal Government was aware of INEC’s collaboration with security organizations to guarantee a smooth election process nationwide.

Mohammed said as the INEC clarified security-related and election-related problems while requesting the support of all stakeholders for credible elections in response to the electoral body’s alarm about poll postponement or cancellation that caused a commotion in the political arena.

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The Minister said: “Let me use this opportunity to respond to inquiries from the media over a widely-circulated report, credited to an INEC official, that the 2023 general elections face a serious threat of cancellation due to insecurity.

“The position of the Federal Government remains that the 2023 elections will be held as planned. Nothing has happened to change that position. We are aware that INEC is working wth security agencies to ensure that the elections are successfully held across the country.

“The security agencies have also continued to assure Nigerians that they are working tirelessly to ensure that the elections are held in a peaceful atmosphere. Therefore, there is no cause for alarm.”

The Labour Party, LP, on the other hand, pleaded with INEC and Nigerians not to heed threats from individuals and political groups seeking to scuttle the country’s progress toward a better society by sabotaging the upcoming general elections.

Dr. Tanko Yusuf, the chief spokesperson for the LP Presidential Council, claimed that those who planned the attacks on INEC facilities were clearly terrified of a free and fair election because failure already stands in their way.

Festus Keyamo, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council’s director of public affairs and chief spokesperson, responded to the announcement by saying that the INEC may have exaggerated the problem of insecurity.

He said: “The election should not be postponed as it would cause a constitutional crisis due to the time allotted. We had insecurity in 2015 but did it cause postponing the election? The INEC chairman may have over-stated this but it’s not big enough to cause postponement of the general elections.”

Senator Dino Melaye, spokesman and director of public affairs for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential campaign committee, urged the APC-led administration to demonstrate the ability to protect the upcoming elections despite the threat of insecurity.

He said: “Nigerians cannot wait a day longer to kick APC out of power. Everything should be done by the government to protect the electorate and every part of Nigeria to make sure elections take place. INEC has no excuse not to conduct the 2023 elections. INEC should not give APC the opportunity to continue to punish and suffer Nigerians as the agitation for Atiku’s presidency cannot be killed.”

In the meantime, unless something unexpected comes up, the INEC is due to give the participating political parties in the general elections slated for Saturday, February 25 and March 11, 2023 the final copy of the Voters’ Register.