Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security met in an emergency session on Friday.
In response to recent attacks on INEC offices in the early hours of Thursday in the states of Ogun and Osun, INEC called the emergency meeting.
The National Security Advisor (NSA), Major-General Babagana Monguno (Retd. ), the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ahmed Rufai Abubakar, are all members of the inter-agency committee.
Yakubu acknowledged instances of arson at the INEC offices in Ogun and Osun, which he claimed resulted in the destruction of 904 ballot boxes and 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). He claims that using their data, the Commission will recreate the impacted PVCs.
He encouraged the committee to act forcefully to prevent political attacks while voicing his deep concerns about them.
In his remarks, Monguno stated that he was aware that in the previous month, at least 52 cases of violence had been reported across 22 states of the federation; he characterized this situation as a bad omen that needed to be resolved swiftly.
The NSA further stated that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered that the federal elections in 2023 be held without hostility. He claims that the President is delighted with how the off-season governorship elections in the states of Anambra, Ekiti, and Osun went and expects a similar result in the elections of 2023.
Monguno added that the security agencies had received clear directives to “deal decisively” with any group or individual who wants to foment trouble. He cautioned such groups, irrespective of their political leaning, to beware of the security agencies which, according to him, are on high alert.
The IGP stated that while investigations are underway and that some arrests have already been made, she hopes that justice is served quickly so that it might act as a deterrence for others.
