Ahead of the Saturday, February 3, 2024 bye and rerun elections in 48 constituencies nationwide, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it has received reports raising concerns over the impact of prevailing insecurity in some states where elections are scheduled to take place.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who gave the indication at a Meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security, ICCES, in Abuja, said the situation is made worse by incendiary statements by some political actors.
Yakubu noted that from experience, the conduct of isolated elections such as bye-elections and re-run elections can be very challenging, urging security agencies to pay attention to the potentials for disruptive behaviour by some candidates and their supporters.
“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.
“Arising from the reports we 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. We will present such concerns and reports at this meeting for appropriate security response,” he said.
The INEC Chairman tasked security agencies on ensuring security for the elections, adding that the commission has already provided to 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, Local Government Areas, Registration Areas/Wards and Polling Units.
“As security agencies, it is your responsibility to secure the environment to enable us deploy personnel and materials, the protection of observers, the media as well as the polling and collation agents representing the political parties and candidates. Without a secure and peaceful environment, the conduct of credible elections is imperilled,” he said.
Yakubu explained that two types of elections will be held name: “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. 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 further explained that the nine bye-elections are fresh elections covering the entire constituencies, 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.
Also speaking, the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said the police, as the lead agency of election security management was aware of the challenges associated with the conduct of isolated elections, while assuring Nigerians that the police is on top of the situation.
Egbetokun said the Nigerian Police have conducted threat analysis in all the 26 states where elections will take place and are going to carry out deployment according to the strength of the threat assessment.
“We are also going to deploy adequately and massively for this election, just like we did in the last off cycle elections in the tree states. I want to assure Nigerians that this election that is coming is going to be conducted peacefully. We are going to ensure safety of officials who are going to be deployed for the election.
“We are going to ensure safety of the electorate who are going to come out to vote on the day of election. We will ensure safety of electoral materials. We are aware of all our responsibilities and we are already prepared ahead of this election and we are going to ensure that this election is conducted free and fair,” he said.
On his part, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, said President Bola Tinubu has always posited that the ability of security agencies to maintain law and order, protect lives and property and ensure the safety of voters, electoral officials and candidates is fundamental to the integrity of the electoral process.
Represented by Hassan Yahaya Abdullahahi, Ribadu assured that in future elections, particularly the forthcoming by-election and rerun elections security agencies will prevent and manage election-related violence, intimidation and other security threats so as to uphold the credibility of the process.
“The office of the National Security Adviser and security agencies under the platform of ICCES will sustain collaborations with INEC to ensure that elections are conducted in secured and peaceful environments. In this regards, the coordination of security operations, deployment of personnel, and adoption of proactive security measures would be paramount,” he said.
