USIP urges FG to plan against election violence

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), has said that for Nigeria to prevent election violence and ensure a peaceful 2019 elections, there is need to get acquainted with the prevailing security and political realities in the country.

This was disclosed in Abuja on Tuesday at the presentation of an Electoral violence risk assessment research titled “Nigeria’s 2019 Elections: change, continuity and the risks to peace”, conducted by USIP.

The research focused on examining the new risks of election violence in Nigeria’s upcoming elections scheduled for February and March next year.

“These shifts include changing narratives about insecurity and increased prominence of intra party disputes relative to the previous elections, which suggests that significant violence is likely to occur in the period before balloting.

“This is why USIP is calling for greater innovation to respond to shifting national electoral context, as the needed action to avert risks of violence in the 2019 elections.

The visiting researcher, Africa USIP, Aly Verjee, said the study showed that despite significant shifts in the political and security space in Nigeria, little change has been recorded in the approach to confronting electoral violence since 2015 elections.

The survey identified security and insecurity as a major change in Nigeria’s political context since 2015, which can pose new risks to the 2019 general elections as changing narratives of “particularly prominent in Nigeria’s Northern and Central, Middle-belt states, the prominence of the so called pastoralists- farmers conflicts has shaped perceptions that large parts of the country are insecure”.

Others changes in the polity include perception that the electorate is disappointed in the national government, with unmet expectation of ‘change’, a change in the nature of political disputes, from inter party tensions to intra party conflicts, perception that the electorate is now more politically conscious with higher expectations of INEC and lastly the growing prominence of local government elections.

The study which was conducted in nine states of the country showed that majority of the respondents “felt that peaceful elections in 2019 were contingent on the performance of INEC and greater political will by politicians/political parties to mitigate violence”.

“The election commission INEC can do more in terms of communicating with the populace effectively about what it is doing and the strategies that it is taking”

He emphasised on the need for earlier and enhanced coordination with political actors, security agencies to prepare for the election before next year.

One of INEC’s national commissioners, Dr Muhammed Lecky emphasised that INEC is doing her best to avert all electoral violence especially the post election violence.

Lecky noted that “INEC has taken steps to ensure that elections don’t go far into the night, you have that most of the elections we have conducted post 2015, we close relatively early”.

“Closing the polling units early have reduced the tendency of doing evil things under the cover of the night, that we have been able to do and will continue in the 2019 elections”.

He said INEC is doing its best in terms of logistics and preparation for elections.

“The major issue on elections day is logistics, movement of people and materials, and one major indicator that other logistics are working is the opening of polling units by 8am, which is the standard time”.

Quote:
“These shifts include changing narratives about insecurity and increased prominence of intra party disputes relative to the previous elections, which suggests that significant violence is likely to occur in the period before balloting”. – USIP