National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, has said the forthcoming off-season Ekiti State Governorship election fixed for June 18 will be devoid of violence.
Monguno gave the assurance on Friday at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security organized by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He was represented by Sanusi Galadima.
The NSA said security agencies were monitoring development in the South West state and from his discussions with the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, there was nothing to worry about.
He said:” We are very optimistic that the election will be conducted smoothly without any rancour.
“The NSA has also prayed that the elections that will come off in Ekiti in the next three weeks or less than three weeks will be even better than the Anambra elections that we had peaceful.
“In the end, he also directed me to tell other security agencies with ICCES members and all those that will be involved in the Ekiti election and subsequent election of Osun state, that they have nothing to fear.
“The federal government is fully in their support, and all other logistics and other issues concerning the election will be provided.
“At the end of the day, he prayed to Almighty God that Ekiti election will be peacefully conducted, devoid of any rancour.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said his Commission was on top of logistics for the seamless conduct of both Ekiti and Osun states’ governorship elections.
He said INEC would continue to sustain consultations with stakeholders in both states towards smooth conduct of the elections.
“With only 15 days to the Ekiti Governorship election, all the major activities that are supposed to be carried out at this stage have been successfully undertaken. I led a team of INEC National Commissioners to Ekiti State early this week to assess the Commission’s preparations for the elections.
We visited our offices in several Local Government Areas, held meetings with our staff, had an audience with the Council of Obas to solicit the support of their Royal Majesties for peaceful elections and met with the security agencies.
We also observed the ongoing training of ad hoc staff and the deployment of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for mock accreditation of voters in some Polling Units across the three Senatorial Districts of the State. We will again return to Ekiti State shortly to meet with the stakeholders and for the signing of the Peace Accord by political parties and candidates under the auspices of the National Peace Committee.
“As the Commission is getting ready for the Ekiti State Governorship election, we have also gone far with similar preparations for the Osun State Governorship election holding next month i.e. Saturday 16th July 2022. At the same time, the Commission continues with preparations for the 2023 General Election. On this note, let me seize this opportunity to address two critical aspects of our preparations for the forthcoming General Election.”
Ahead next general elections, Professor Yakubu further disclosed that his Commission “has virtually concluded the planning processes for the 2023 General Election nine months ahead of the election. ”
He however restated his concern that the unsavoury security situation in this country remained a threat to the Continuous Voters Registration exercise which he said has to be put on hold in certain areas of the country.
“As the deadline for the suspension of the CVR i.e. 30th June 2022 approaches, long queues are building up, especially in some states in the South East, Lagos, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Commission had anticipated the last-minute surge and therefore established additional centres and deployed more machines to register citizens.
“Unfortunately, the security situation in many parts of the country has not allowed full deployment as planned. In some states of the Federation, INEC registration officers were attacked resulting not only in the unfortunate destruction of buildings and loss of equipment but even worse, the death of a staff. This has forced the closure of some of the registration centres.
“However, in view of the surge, additional machines will be deployed to some of the most congested areas to ease the surge. Similarly, the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) have been directed to liaise with the security agencies and stakeholders on the possibility of reopening some of the centres earlier closed because of insecurity, but in doing so, they must always bear in mind the safety of registrants and registration officials.
Furthermore, the RECs are directed to do more to provide information, increase awareness of the processes and more promptly respond to genuine complaints by citizens.”
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