11th October, 2022
The Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmoud Yakubu, has expressed worry over the worsening security situation in some parts of the country ahead of the 2023 general election.
Prof Yakubu who spoke at a National Endowment for Democracy event in Washington DC in the United States particularly cited the growing insecurity in the Southeast and the Northwest as worrying.
He added that the Commission is especially keeping its eyes on the Southeast where rampaging gunmen have killed couple of INEC staff with and the banditry ravaged North West.
But he said INEC is working with security agencies and is keenly monitoring the development, according to Channels tv.
“It is a perennial issue because, at the end of the day, it is not new but the dimension of the insecurity is new in the sense that in the past, it was localised or confined to a particular part of the country – the North-East but now, it is more widespread,” he said.
“We are keeping our eyes, particularly, on the North-West and the South-Eastern part of the country. Elections are conducted by human beings. We worry about the security of our officials, materials, and even the voters themselves. Without them, elections cannot be conducted. ”
The INEC chairman however, said security agencies have assured the Commissionn that the situation will improve before the elections.
“So, fingers crossed,” he said.
He also revealed that 2.7 million double registrations have been weeded out of the last Continuous Voters Registration exercise conducted by the commission.
He also added that about 50% of the new PVCs are ready, but yet to be distributed to collection centres.