INEC: Proliferation of Small Arms, Light Weapons, Hard Drugs, Insurgents, Threat to 2023 Elections

Chuks Okocha

Ahead of next year’s general election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has highlighted areas of concern in the conduct of free and fair polls in the country. INEC stated this at a meeting with members of the Inter Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).

In his address at the meeting held yesterday in Abuja, Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, informed the forum that the commission had also been evaluating the risk to the election using the Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT). Yakubu said the aim was to identify early warning signs that could assist the security agencies and other stakeholders in devising and deploying appropriate mitigation strategies.

According to the INEC chairman, “Among other areas of concern, the commission focused on threats specific to geographical locations, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the issue of hard drugs, presence of insurgents and armed groups, intra and inter-party conflicts, and incidents of hate speech.”

Yakubu announced that in the next few days, the commission would intensify its engagement with stakeholders, particularly party leaders and candidates, traditional and religious leaders, transport providers, civil society organisations, and the media.

Speaking on the forthcoming Federal Capital Territory Area Councils election, the INEC chairman said, “We will work with all stakeholders to ensure that the forthcoming election is peaceful and our processes credible. That is why this meeting is crucial.”

He added, “Securing the environment is the foundation for a peaceful, well-organised and credible election. This was clearly demonstrated in the peaceful conduct of the recent Anambra State governorship election. Let us make the FCT Area Council election another shining example of a peaceful election.”

In addition to the FCT Area Council election, the INEC chairman said the commission was preparing for six bye-elections on February 26, followed by the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections on June 18 and July 16, respectively.

He explained that in the case of the Ekiti State governorship election, the period earmarked in the timetable and schedule of activities for party primaries ended on January 29.

According to him, “All 18 political parties served notices for their party primaries to elect their candidates for the election and invited the commission to monitor them. One party adopted the direct method for electing its candidate while 16 parties opted for the indirect method.”

However, he said from its field report, the Boot Party (BP) did not hold its primary election at any venue known to and monitored by the commission.

Consequently, he said, “We do not expect the party to nominate a candidate for the Ekiti State governorship election.”

Yakubu warned political parties to strictly adhere to the commission’s timelines for all activities, including the conduct of primaries and nomination of candidates. He reiterated that these timelines were firm and fixed, adding, “No deviation or violation will be allowed.”

Meanwhile, INEC said fresh registration in the on-going nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) had reached 5,353,744. It also disclosed that 2,805,089 registrants had completed online and physical registration. A breakdown of this showed that 1,148,631 persons did online and 1,656,458 did physical registration.

INEC added that gender distribution of the registrants, who had completed the registration process, revealed that 1,414,675 were male and 1,390,414 were female, while 25,523 of the registrants were Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).

INEC also received 8,919,606 applications for voter transfer, requests for replacement of permanent voter’s cards, as well as update of voter information record.