*Insecurity concerns more pressing than 2023 polls, says former presidential candidate, Olawepo – Hashim

*Election must hold – NSA, Monguno

By Agunze Marcel

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has raised the alarm that the current security situation in the country will pose a serious threat to a successful conduct of next year’s general elections.

INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu, who expressed the commission’s concern in his remarks at the opening ceremony of election security management training organised by the Nigeria Police Force in Abuja on Thursday.

Professor Yakubu expressed concerns that the responsibility of ensuring the safety and security of voters, election personnel and materials, candidates, party agents, and observers, among others, is becoming challenging, especially as hoodlums and terrorists have target the commission’s facilities in some states.

Yakubu further noted that though the general elections remain about seven months away, there is a need for proactive measures to ensure that the entire country is secure for elections to hold nationwide.

This is even as the INEC boss promised to continue to partner with security agencies and all members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), to ensure a safe and secure environment for the 2023 general election.

“Election preparations, deployment and implementation constitute the most extensive mobilization that could happen in a country, whether in peacetime or in wartime. In Nigeria, it involves the recruitment and training of staff and managing the logistics for their deployment to 176,846 Polling Units spread across 8,809 electoral Wards, 774 Local Areas and 37 States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

 “It also involves a projected voter population of about 95 million for the 2023 general election which is over 20 million more than the combined voter population of the other 14 countries in West Africa. Voters will also elect candidates for 1,491 constituencies (1 Presidential constituency, 28 governorship elections, 109 Senatorial Districts, 360 Federal Constituencies and 993 State Assembly seats).

“Ensuring the safety and security of voters, election personnel and materials, candidates, party agents, observers, the media and transporters are enormous. This responsibility has become more challenging in the context of the current security situation in the country.

“I am glad that the Nigeria Police as the lead agency in election security has once again demonstrated its leadership role by convening this Workshop. With about seven months to the next general election, there is time for proactive measures to ensure that the entire country is secure for election to hold nationwide,” he noted.

Speaking further, the electoral umpire boss, revealed that a revised code of conduct and training manuals that will be aligned with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 will be released in a few weeks’ time.

According to him: “In addition to physical security, I am glad to note that this Workshop will also focus on deepening the capacity of the security personnel to imbibe and comply with the global standard of election security management.

“Already, the Commission, under the auspices of ICCES has produced and periodically revised the code of conduct and rules of engagement for security personnel on electoral duty.

“In the next few weeks, the code of conduct, as well as our training manuals, will be revised to align them with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and to consolidate on the professionalism displayed by the security agencies in the recent off-cycle elections. We will also intensify our cascade training for security personnel ahead of the 2023 general election.

“I wish to reassure the Inspector General of Police, heads of other security agencies and all members of ICCES that the commission will continue to work in synergy with you to ensure a safe and secure environment for the 2023 general election. It is a critical election and we must all continue to work together to protect the will of the Nigerian people,” he assured.

The INEC chairman expressed his gratitude to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), for conducting the very important Workshop on security management training for Police and other security personnel ahead of the 2023 General Election.

“I am also glad that the initiative does not begin and end here in Abuja but extended to the six geo-political zones. The commission supports this laudable initiative and will fully participate in the training workshops nationwide,” he promised.

*Insecurity may threaten 2023 elections – former presidential candidate warns

In the same vein,  Former presidential candidate and chieftain of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has called on the federal government to do more to tackle insecurity challenges in the country before the 2023 general election,

 The former presidential candidate of Peoples Trust (PT), in 2015 noted that national security concerns in the country should be given more attention, as it is more pressing than the 2023 elections.

Olawepo – Hashim stated in a statement from his media office, in Abuja, on Wednesday,  that the political leadership of the country must not concentrate only on permutations on the 2023 elections to the detriment of urgent national security concerns, and added that “we must have a country first before election and our people must be alive and safe first to be able to vote.”

According to him,  “the Barbarians are at the gate of the capital, our Republic is under threat, our tested ways of life pluralism, democracy, State secularism, are about to be imperilled. The clock is ticking; time is running out, the forces of evil are set to take the Capital.”

The former presidential candidate of the People’s Trust, maintained that “in the last two years, we have spoken on the nation’s security challenges and offered concrete suggestions on how to confront them, but all suggestions have been ignored. Now is the time for patriots and statesmen and friends of Nigeria to rally and defend the Ideals of our Republic, the ideals of peace and the ideals of modernity and civilisation.”

Olawepo-Hashim reiterated that, “presently, it is an understatement to say we are at a turning point in our history when terrorist forces have technically surrounded our nation’s capital, highlighting the severity of our national security challenge. Despite the offensive of the military to clean-up the bushes in the capital, the axis surrounding the capital are still in the hands of the enemy and they retain the capacity, flexibility and initiative to launch attacks at any place and time of their choice

*2023 election must hold – NSA, Monguno

But speaking at the occasion of the security workshop, National Security Adviser(NSA), Major General Babagaba Monguno (rtd), assured that the 2023, general elections in the country would hold without hitches.

The NSA, said the insecurity notwithstanding, the election must hold, adding that president Muhammed Buhari, is committed to providing a secured environment for the elections to take place.

Mungono, spoke at the opening of the workshop on election security management organized by the Nigerian police force said “the President is committed to delivering an election that is completely transparent and which will command the general acceptance of the Nigerian population.

“This election as far as the president is concerned will be devoid of to use the Nigerian parlance any wuru-wuru.

“Now in furtherance to this, the president has charged the military the police, the DSS and all security agencies to synergies effectively review the operational strategies and optimally deploy all their operational assets towards addressing current and revolving General security threats ahead of the forth coming general elections

“I am confident that the presidential directives will be achieved and 2023 general elections will be conducted peacefully in a stable security environment

“Let me assure you of the determination of the President to bequeath a legacy of strong democratic institutions and values to our beloved nation. The NSA, added.

He therefore called on the security agencies in the country to work as a team to provide a conducive environment for the elections to hold, commended the police for organizing the workshop, even as he noted that the mandate of providing adequate security during elections processes lies on the shoulder of the police as the lead security agency.

“It is in furtherance to this that President Mohammadu Buhari had always encouraged outcome of gathering of kind that will help foster National building.

“To this regards, the electoral mandate granted to the independent Electoral commission INEC, was witnessed in Anambra and and Osun States to be a step in right direction,”  he noted.