Saturday polls, call your supporters, agents to order — FG warns parties
…Says adequate security in place
…Saturday polls a contest, not war – INEC to parties
By Moses Adeniyi
The Federal Government has said with security architecture put in place, Nigerians need not to fear over the March 18 gubernatorial and State Assembly elections, but warned political parties to call their supporters to order.
The Government made the position following tension over heated politicking ongoing in States where the governorship race is under hot contest.
The National Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno, Monguno on Tuesday at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in Abuja, said though the Saturday polls would be complicated and contextually different from the recently concluded February 25 Presidential/National Assembly (NASS) elections, yet he maintained that security agencies do not envisage “a terrible or apocalyptic” situation in the next few days.
The NSA stated that a lot of security engagements had been convened, involving the Chief of Defence Staff and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), thus assuring confidence of security agencies to contain any form of violence.
Maintaining that the dynamics of the Saturday polls, the second phase of the general elections, would be much more different from the presidential/NASS elections that were just concluded. He gave the assurance that security agencies are prepared.
“Of course, the elections on Saturday are going to be much more complicated, and contextually different. First of all, we are going to have 1,021 constituencies which mean more people are interested, and more people to vote. Obviously, the dynamics would be much more different than the elections that were just concluded.
“For the security agencies, I know a lot has been done. I have been talking with the Chief of Defence Staff, and with the Inspector General of Police, who is the head of the lead agency in the process of elections.
“So far, so good, we do not envisage anything that is going to be terrible or apocalyptic in the next few days. But that does not mean that we should all do away with our state of readiness. We must comply with the rules. We must also allow everyone to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens of this Country,” he said.
He urged political parties and candidates to demonstrate high level of discipline and maturity during and after the polls, advising them to call their supporters to order.
He said, “While commending the efforts of the various political parties and the individuals that participated in the last elections, especially those of them that called for peace and calm, I want to also urge same individuals, especially at the state level to demonstrate the same level of maturity, discipline by calling their supporters to conduct themselves in a manner that is congruent with the expectations of a larger Nigerian society. Of course, there are channels for laying and addressing complaints.
“What we do not want to happen is for anybody to take the law into his or her own hands. We are going to give the maximum support to all entities involved in this process. And we are also calling on political parties to call their people to order.”
…Saturday polls a contest, not war – INEC to parties
Meanwhile, on his part, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, called on political parties to caution their agents and supporters, stating that the Saturday March 18 polls should be treated as a contest and not war.
“The governorship and state assembly elections this weekend involve more constituencies than the national elections held about three weeks ago. Unlike the last elections involving 470 constituencies (1 Presidential, 109 Senatorial Districts and 360 House of Representatives seats), the State elections will involve 1,021 constituencies (28 governorship and 993 State Assembly seats). There will also be more candidates involved and more collation centres to protect. There are also local elections involving keen contests.
“It is therefore important for parties and candidates to speak to their agents and supporters to see the elections as a contest and not war. They should refrain from acts of violence that may mar the elections or compromise the security of our personnel, observers, the media and service providers.
“The Commission is encouraged by the directive to State Commands by the Inspector General of Police to handle all cases of electoral offences expeditiously. We look forward to receiving the case files. We will immediately set up a legal team to handle such cases in earnest,” the INEC Chariman said.
There were reported cases of violence by party supporters in some parts of the Country during the February 25 presidential/NASS polls, for which among other issues, the process was faulted and INEC knocked by critics.
However, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) in a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke observed that the preponderance of positive reports from local and International election observers on the February 25 elections reflect that the process is much credible than what the allegations of the opposition parties could discredit.
BMO which concluded that it was convinced that, aside the glitches on IREV (INEC Result Viewing Portal), the “2023 election would go down in history as the best in recent history,” said the glitch is not enough to discredit the election even though they acknowledged it.
According to the BMO, the reports of observers were an affirmation of the improvement in Nigeria’s electoral process under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Since the completion of the first set of election and the declaration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the country had been awash with post-election claims of electoral fraud by the opposition parties.
“This is largely as a result of the glitch that led to the failure to upload election results real-time on the IREV from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS).
“But judging from the post-election reports for many of the international observer groups, the glitch is not enough to discredit the election even though they acknowledged it.
“According to the Independent Foreign Observers Mission, it is the most transparent election in the country’s recent history with significant candidates recording victories and defeats.
“The group specifically noted that incidences of vote buying were minimal as a result of the naira redesign policy of the Buhari administration and added that the accreditation process was different and better than what the country had in the past.
“The Commonwealth, African Union and ECOWAS missions, for their part, admitted that the election was better than previous ones and made a case for early voting for electoral officials as well as ‘ongoing training of technical and ad-hoc staff to professionally handle and resolve issues related to the use of BVAS machines.’
“For the EU and NDI, lack of public information on the newly introduced election technologies (BVAS and IREV) diminished expectations and left room for speculation which INEC was not quick to respond to.
“Virtually all the observer missions were not impressed with the post-election comments of the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party.
“Just like many Nigerians, international observers including the AU mission led by former South African President Thabo Mbeki have been swift to urge aggrieved candidates and parties to seek the legal option rather than lay the groundwork for violence.
“We are aware that the EU which made a similar call had also noted that the first sets of Presidential election result sheets were uploaded after 10 pm on Election Day, to outline the challenge INEC faced.
“But in the words of the foreign observers, allegations of infractions or switch of results are based on speculation and not facts on the ground.
“And we dare add that since the Commission began to upload scanned results sheets belatedly, none of the opposition parties have been able to discountenance any of the results with copies handed to their agents at each of the over 170,000 polling units where actual voting took place.
“We hope that at the end, the parties and their supporters will be courageous enough to admit that they were too quick to question the outcome of the Presidential election because of their poor understanding of the collation process,” it said.
Recall that breaking from silence over allegations of irregularities against INEC on the conduct of the Feb. 25 presidential and NASS elections, the Presidency had last week, justified the outcome declared by the Commission maintaining earlier stand that the “election will not be annulled” like that of the June 12, 1993 election.
Reaffirming President Muhammadu Buhari’s assurance that “whoever is the winner will be president,” the Presidency affirmed the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his declaration by INEC as President-elect, stating that “Tinubu’s election stands,” and whoever is aggrieved can challenge it with the locus to prove any case otherwise before the Court.
The position of the Presidency was made known in a report by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, titled, “At the 5th United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs), President Buhari drums up support for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Presidency.”
In the report which briefed the participation of President Buhari at the LDCs Conference, in Doha, Qatar, the Presidency said that the knocks on INEC were vile and unsubstantiated allegations.
It stated that against pressure, President Buhari who was faced with orchestrated attempts to poison public opinion against national institutions, particularly the presidential election and its conduct by the INEC, stood without changing grounds.
The presidential spokesman in what could be described as the takeaways he listed from the President participation at the LDCs Conference, in Doha, Qatar, said that Buhari, while speaking to Nigerians in the Diaspora about the ongoing political transition, called for support for the incoming government of Asiwaju Tinubu, “so that Nigeria will continue to be the beacon of hope and prosperity in our continent and an example for other African countries to emulate.”
