The Independent National Electoral Commission has called on security agencies to act swiftly against those who disrupt the electoral process.
The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, made this call at a meeting of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security on Friday.
He said that the security agencies have the primary duty of ensuring election security and they should deal firmly with electoral offenders. He added that this would create a safe environment for peaceful elections and electoral activities.
He also asked the security personnel on electoral duty to be neutral and professional.
The INEC Chairman said that the November 11 governorship elections in Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo would be challenging due to the insecurity and terrain of the states.
He advised politicians to restrain their candidates and supporters from engaging in violence and other undemocratic practices such as vote buying, attacks on election officials and disruption of the electoral process.
He said that the three states are not easy to conduct elections in because of the negative influence of political actors, especially since the campaign started on July 14, 2023.
The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, assured the INEC Chairman that the security agencies were ready for the governorship election.
He said that he was representing the security sector as co-chair of the election and they would work with INEC 100 per cent. He said that they would meet the standards and expectations of INEC.
He said that they had two weeks to the election and they had done a lot of preparation. He said that the security coordination was also ongoing.
The NSA also said that President Bola Tinubu’s government was committed to conducting free, fair and credible elections.
He said that nothing was more important than free and fair elections in a democracy. He said that the President had given his directives and he wanted to see free, fair and credible elections.
He said that this would be the first election under his watch and he wanted INEC and Nigerians to know that he would support them to ensure Nigeria would have free and fair elections.
