Tinubu ordered us to secure Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo guber polls – NSA
…vote buying, attacks on election officials, disruption of the electoral process must stop – INEC Chair
By Tunde Opalana
President Bola Tinubu has given critical stakeholders in electoral matters in the country, including security agencies, a marching order to ensure that the November 11 governorship elections in Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states are freely, credibly and securely conducted.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu disclosed this on Friday at a meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) in Abuja.
The meeting focussed on how to properly secure the three off-cycle Governorship elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states.
Ribadu, who hosted the meeting in his office said President Bola Tinubu wants nothing less than credible and secured election in the three states and that he has given the security community all requested logistics to make the polls a success.
He said , “Mr President has assured us that the elections will be free and fair. This is the first elections under his watch.
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“He has assured that everything should be done to ensure that the elections are free and fair.
“Mr President has given his orders and directives that he would want to see a free, fair and credible elections.
“He has promised to be available and provide all the necessary assistance to make the elections successful.
“All the requirements we have put forward to him, he has given his approval.
“The entire security forces and our entire requirement has been met, the rest is for us to deliver.
“He is a true democrat. It is now left for us to deliver”.
The National Security Adviser appreciated the role of INEC in past elections in the country, Ribadu commended the Commission for having done extremely well.
“The elections that you have conducted, progressively we are improving and we are getting to where it will meet standard. We want to thank for that and all the staff of INEC. Thank the security community.
“Elections are about the two, INEC and Security, when you come together, that is when we will have an election and it will be an incredible one. So far so good, we want to thank you for that. We believe that the experience that we are continuously gaining we will only continue to do better. This is exactly what we are doing,” he said
Assured of the preparedness of the security agencies, he told the INEC chairman, “we want to assure you that we are getting prepared. We will work. We will be with you 100%. We will meet the requirements and standards you want us to meet.
“We just had two weeks to the election. Almost two weeks now. Already a lot of work has gone into preparation. The security interaction is also ongoing.
“We want to assure you that we are working on that, fully ready and fully prepared.
Speaking further, he said the security agencies will not let Nigerians down.
Ribadu said “We want to give assurance to Nigerians that this election will be even better than what we have had in the past. This election is going to be free and fair.
“This election will be without interference. This election is going to be without violence. This election is going to be credible.
“It is going to be litmus test for us. Three important states, one in the north-central, one in the south east, one in the south -south and we are ready.
“We will provide what it takes to provide credible elections and we are impressed with the preparations we have seen from INEC and we will work together. Collectively it is our responsibility to deliver.
The acting Inspection General of Police, Mr Kayode Egbetokun revealed said that officers and men of the Nigerian Police Force are fully ready for all those involved in negative mobilizations ahead of the elections.
Egbetokun specifically advised political parties and their supporters to avoid any act of election infraction as culprits will not go unpunished.
The IGP said, “we have received all necessary information from INEC which have informed us on where to deploy to during these elections.
“We have carried out our threat assessment and that has informed us in respect to allocation of our resources and the deployment of our men.
“All the security agencies are collaborating strongly to ensure that these elections are violence free,’’ he said.
“We are aware of some negative mobilizations by some supporters of some candidates and we are already monitoring them.
“We are ready for them for these elections. I appeal to them to stay away from this election.
“I also appeal to the electorate to come out en manse to cast their votes during this election. We are committed to peaceful election and no going back,’’ he said.
Early in his remark, INEC chairman, Prof. Yakubu commended the NSA for hosting this meeting as Co-Chairman of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
He said the meeting is necessary because of the prevalent security situations in the three states .
Prof. Yakubu said the three States of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi are not the easiest States in Nigeria to conduct elections.
“The difficult geographical terrain and prevailing insecurity are compounded by negative mobilisation by political actors, especially since the commencement of campaign in public on 14th July 2023. Our message to politicians is that they should call their candidates and supporters to order. Violence and other undemocratic activities such as vote buying, attacks on election officials and disruption of the electoral process must stop, he said.
Stressing that the ultimate responsibility for election security lies with the security agencies, the chairman said “our message to the security agencies is to take decisive action against perpetrators of electoral violence.
“This is the surest way to guarantee a safe environment for the peaceful conduct of elections and electoral activities. In doing so, security personnel on electoral duty should remain neutral and committed to the established professional code of conduct and rules of engagement.”
According to the chairman, “the three States have 5,409,438 registered voters out of which 5,169,692 have collected their Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs). Eligible voters will vote in all the 10,510 polling units. However, there are two polling units in Bayelsa State and 38 in Imo State without registered voters. The list of these polling units is available on our website.
“Similarly, election results will be collated in 649 Registration Areas/Wards, 56 Local Government Areas and three State collation centres. This gives us a cumulative figure of 11,178 voting and collation locations to deploy security personnel in the three States.
“This is in addition to ensuring a secure environment for the ongoing campaigns and rallies by political parties and candidates, security of voters, the escort of personnel and materials, protection of assets and general security for all persons with legitimate reason to participate in the election and electoral activities.”
