Jan 25 re-run polls: NSA, IGP read riot act to electoral offenders

.Past security deployment left much to be desired, says INEC boss

Tough time awaits political thugs, ballot box snatchers and other categories of electoral offenders as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducts rerun elections in one senatorial district, 12 federal constituencies and 15 state constituencies on January 25, 2020.

This is as both the National Security Adviser (NSA), Major General Babagana Monguno (rtd) and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, sent warning signals to different categories of electoral offenders to steer clear of voting and result collation centres during the coming polls.

The security chiefs read the riot act on Friday during an extensive meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) held at the INEC headquarters, Abuja.

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Major General Monguno (rtd), who toed same line with the INEC chairman in acknowledging lapses in security arrangements during different polls in 2019, said henceforth, there must be consequencies for bad behaviour especially by security agents during future elections.

He promised that the nation’s security under his watch will address identified challenges faced in previous polls, most especially during elections conducted in 2029.

The NSA it is the responsibility of security agencies to protect electoral personnel, secure electoral environments and give credibility to elections but there must be maximum coordination among the agencies.

“We must be able to punish anybody who behaves outside the confines of legitimate electoral processes especially security agents. They will be brought to book”, he said.

 Monguno assured the nation that the different agents will provide adequate protection to stakeholders such as INEC personnel and ad – hoc staff, voters, party agents, media personnel and electoral observers.

The Inspector General, who heads the lead election security agency, bemoaned lack of synergy among all agencies involved in election and concluded that this has affected the credility of performance of security agents.

He said lack of synergy between security agencies and INEC has created ample opportunities for electoral offenders to thrive.

“There is no thug that can disrupt election without connivance with either security agents or INEC staff.

“No thug can be greater than any security agent if we cooperate. When electoral breaches are observed and security agents advised INEC on what to do, INEC staff should not turn down such advice”, said Adamu.

Reading the riot act, the IGP said: “From now onward we will not tolerate disruption of electoral processes or compromise of the system. Anyone caught snatching ballot boxes will be taken out of circulation.

“The rerun election is going to be a test case of what we are saying”.

In his opening remark, INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the Commission is concerned that security deployment in some of the most recent elections left much to be desired.

He said: “There is more emphasis on numbers of security personnel to be deployed but less consideration on strategic deployment to protect the process, leaving the voters, election officials, party agents, observers, the media and even unarmed security personnel at polling units vulnerable to attacks by thugs and hoodlums.

“Furthermore, there is emphasis on numbers of security personnel but less on synergy, coordination and collaboration among the various security agencies in line with the purpose for which ICCES was established in the first instance”.

Yakubu called for adopting of a different approach to election security which must translate to reality in the forthcoming re-run elections such that Nigerians will see a qualitatively different security arrangement.

“No thugs and hoodlums can be more powerful than the Nigeria Police and other security agencies. It is the failure to act decisively and collaboratively that encourages thuggery and serves as an incentive for bad behaviour”, he said.

The INEC chairman said it is the responsibility of the security agencies to secure the environment for the successful conduct of elections, adding that the  purpose of security deployment during elections is to protect the voters, election officials and materials, accredited observers, the media and to safeguard the integrity of the processes generally, including the polling units and collations centres.

At the meeting were representatives of the service chiefs and heads of para – military agencies and anti – corruption agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).