The endless attack on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s facilities is a threat to conduct of the peaceful conduct of the 2023 elections.
The electoral body regretted that efforts to exterminate vote-buying and other indecency that could degrade the successful conduct of the elections yielded no result.
Speaking at a two-day workshop on political violence and election security organised by the National Defence College in collaboration with African Global Empowerment and Development Network, the INEC Boss, Mahmood Yakubu, said the attacks on its facilities and the insecurity devastating some parts of the country must end for the commission to conduct free, fair, and credible elections in 2023.
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The INEC chairman who was represented by Commission’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said the electoral body is fully prepaid to conduct the 2023 elections.
“The commission is preparing well for the 2023 general elections. Although, we have recorded some reverses in some of the states of the federation in relation to attacks on some of our facilities leading to the destruction of ballot boxes, voting cubicles, and permanent voter cards.
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“We have the capacity to recover from these attacks. Since the 2019 general elections up till 2022, we have recorded 50 attacks in 15 states of the federation. The ones we recorded in 2022 are the ones we considered systematic and coordinated. They are targeted at derailing our commission from conducting free and credible elections.
“We are recovering and will recover. But if these attacks continue to January and February next year, it will be difficult for us to recover. This is because if you look at section 134 of the constitution, there are thresholds that a candidate must meet before he/she can be declared a winner of any election.
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“For instance, if no winner emerges on February 25, the law says we have to conduct a second election within 21 days and only two candidates out of the 18 will participate in this second election. The candidate that records the highest number of votes in that election would be considered number one. The second will be the candidate that secures the majority of votes in the majority of the states.
‘’The constitution did not say it is the person who came second. Also, If for instance, we are unable to conduct elections in some of the local governments it will definitely affect the calculation of the threshold required to make a declaration. We also have a constitutionally prescribed window with which we must conduct elections, so if we have sustained insecurity in the country, it may be difficult for the country to achieve this mandate given to us,” he said.
