From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Despite repeated assurance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies on election security, the European Union said it’s doubtful of successful elections next month.
This, EU said, was due to reports of
rising insecurity and campaign related violence across the country, which it said is a big threat to the free operations of INEC, human and logistics.
Team Leader, EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria phase two programme, Rudolf Elbling, registered the concerns in Abuja, at the second seminar on election security organised by the European Union–Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU-SDGN).
He challenged all stakeholders to rise to the occasion and ensure that democratic growth in Nigeria is sustained and not truncated through the rising violence that would temper with the credibility and sanctity of the election.
He said: “For a country like Nigeria, election always has the potential of creating unrest and instability for a country the size of Nigeria, and that is a very dangerous thing not only for Nigeria and Nigerians but for the whole region. So, the insecurity issue for the last one or two years is of concern for everybody. It’s a concern for every Nigerian because life and living in Nigeria has changed. You cannot move around as you should, so there is a huge potential for this to impact on the elections.”
He raised a concern for the safety of adhoc staff, particularly the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members that are often used for purposes of election, thus suggesting to INEC not to engage corps members in some locations with high security threats, but rather replace them with local vigilantes to serve that purpose.
He suggested further: “INEC should recruit locals as ad-hoc staff electoral officers instead of non-residents of the state. The usual norm of deploying National Youth Service Corps members may portend more danger in the 2023 election.
“It is therefore recommended that INEC should recruit staff who will use local offices from the communities. For instance, in Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger and Sokoto, communities have been in dialogue with armed groups,” he said.
Former INEC’s Director of Voter Education and Publicity, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, in a presentation titled, “Analysis of the legal consequences and impact of insecurity on the 2023 elections” said insecurity has always been an issue of concern in elections in Nigeria, but the case seems to be high this year because virtually all geo-political zones are affected.
He said: “The chances of elections not being held in many parts of the country due to insecurity or leading to many cancelled or inconclusive elections is real and if not properly dealt with may lead to constitutional crisis that could present a clear danger to Nigeria’s democracy especially given its history of flawed or questionable elections.
“Therefore, the escalation of violence and insecurity poses a serious threat not only to the smooth conduct of the elections and the electoral process, but to Nigerian governance more widely.”
Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Ms. Idayat Hassan, in a paper titled, “An analysis of security threats and mitigation measure for the 2023 general election in Nigeria” indicated that in the first nine months of 2022, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) recorded 163 politically related conflicts leading to 44 deaths across 30 states.
She said the pattern of violence across the geopolitical zones included attacks on parties’ secretariats, clashes between parties and their opponents, and abductions and kidnapping of party officials.
Hassan noted that across all six geopolitical zones, there had been a rise in political violence and increased attacks on INEC infrastructure.
