Insecurity fears: Threat to 2023 general elections that must be addressed

Nigeria’s woes on insecurity heighten by the day. Recurring attacks across the Country have left worries on the face of many. The recent double calculated attacks on rail stations in Kaduna in less than 24-hours brought up sourer narratives to colour the scourge of insecurity in the Country. The resort of citizens to rail as an alternative to the fears of road transportation has been coloured with sour dynamics, as citizens would now have to fear insecurity once again in a system which is presumed to be safer and secured. It has now become an albatross that every part of the Country is now discoloured with variants of insecurity threats.

The clusters of deficient factors which the scourge have come to spark are such which leave disarray of troubles for the entire fabric of the Country. From the socio-economic to the political fabric, the woeful threats wave unsavoury records for the Country. Recently, fears over the fate of 2023 elections have been a course of concern. As the drumbeats of aspirations and campaigns are gathering cloud, expression of fears from both the organising electoral body (the Independent National Electoral Commission), and the political bodies of concern have not left the scene. The fears are those reflecting how threatening insecurity situations can deform the electoral processes for a smooth transition.

It is increasingly becoming worrisome that not just the electoral body, but the political stakeholders are apprehensive over the worsening state of insecurity in the Country and the fate of the 2023 elections. In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Arabambi Abayomi, the Labour Party, Abeokuta branch on Sunday, April 03, 2023, feared that if the escalating wave of terrorism across parts of the Country be left unchecked, it has the potential to derail the 2023 general elections. Worried by the spate of incessant attacks recently, the party condemned what it described as “very weak responses of government to terrorism,” demanding that Nigerians should be constitutionally empowered to carry arms for self defense.

The statement partly reads: “Labour Party condemns in totality the very weak responses of government to terrorism. At least now that the APC government, the security agencies and all the federal might have failed to provide security to the people, it is quite plausible that Nigerians should be constitutionally empowered to carry arms for self defense. Labour Party subscribes to the fact that the first and the very most important duty of government is to constitutionally provide and ably guarantee the safety and security of the citizens, but it is unfortunate that the APC-led government had left Labour Party with no choice but to strongly condemn the level of its highly shocking and extremely nauseating incompetence shown against the continual killings of the citizens across the nation by the terrorists. It has now come to a stage that as a nation, this must not be condoned any more. The time has come for the government to do what is standard and needful right immediately, as security is the main demand for a true democratic rule, but this is one area in which the federal government had been found highly wanting. The frightening impotence of the APC federal governments in the face of escalating terrorism may derail the 2023 elections and Labour party hereby advice the President to throw in the towel even as APC Governor of Kaduna state Nasir El Rufai’s threats that ‘Kaduna state with four others of the seven Northwestern states—Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto—may join him to hire foreign mercenaries if the federal government does not end the ongoing spate of terror attacks in the region’ is a signed that the APC led federal government is a failure. It is becoming very frightening and more bewildering noticing the highly increasing level of helplessness of the APC led federal government as terrorism increases in boldness and daring. It is fast becoming unsafe to travel on any road in Nigeria as the seemingly intractable killings of the terrorists are now grown into a level that the APC government has been rendered confused and overwhelmed. The record of the number of terror incidents across the nation is totally mind-boggling and unbelievable. Very unimaginable in a country run on the rule of law with a government on seat.”

It is no doubt that insecurity is now a threat to the running of democracy in the Country. Except issues are addressed to restore situation to normal across various parts of the Country before 2023, it no doubt that the exercise of franchise in the elections would be left at the mercy of insecurity, as many Nigerians who are depressed from the disarray of turbulence may have no choice than to stay away from polling boots. Such would no more be reflective than a system which has broken down to deny citizens their constitutional right as enshrined in a democracy.

The degeneration of insecurity in the Country is growing in concern with dynamic clamours, such as those demanding the possession of firearms for citizens for self help. Rising in full weight of response to arrest the heat is a demand the government must fulfill, as failure in same is failure to fulfill its mandate to protect lives and properties, a primary purpose for which it was elected.

Sustaining Nigeria’s democracy is paramount to keep the polity running for development. Where insecurity has become an albatross threatening the process of elections, nothing speaks but the demand for an emergency which the government must live up to expectations to fulfill. The socio-economic impacts of insecurity have left Nigerians with unsavoury narratives, now that the political fabric is much exposed to the turbulence, it only behooves the government of the day to fortify its arm to arrest the situation as it grows worse.