Nigerians set to vote in state governorship, state Assembly polls amidst fears of intimidation, violence

APA – Lagos (Nigeria)
Nigerians are expected to vote for their candidates in the gubernatorial and state Assembly elections on Saturday, March 18 to complete the current electoral cycle in the country. The first election conducted on February 25, 2023 was for the presidential and National Assembly polls.
According to the Nigerian electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Governorship election will hold in 28 States out of 36 states of the Federation due to the changes in the national electoral calendar involving Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ondo and Osun States. And the elections on Saturday will be conducted in all the 993 State constituencies nationwide.
Speaking on the preparations when he met with the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Elections Security (ICCES) in Abuja on Tuesday, March 14, ahead of the polls, the Chairman of the INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu said that the commission had held a virtual meeting with all the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), in which they reviewed preparations for the state elections with regards to election technology, logistics as well as security issues.
Prof Yakubu urged all candidates and their agents to respect the electoral processes, assuring that the election “is a contest and not war” and thus, “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.”
He assured Nigerians that there would be no violence in the Saturday’s governorship and National Assembly election as the conduct of the election would be free, fair and credible.
The meeting also reviewed the security architecture of the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly election as well as brainstorm on how to leverage on the lessons learnt for the state government elections.
Addressing the committee members, Prof Yakubu said: “I wish to express the Commission’s appreciation to the security agencies and other members of ICCES for the professionalism of personnel and the generally peaceful conduct of the elections.
“We look forward to improved performance in the elections holding this weekend.”
The police authorities on Thursday announced a lockdown on movement across the country on Saturday for the governorship and state Houses of Assembly election. Nigeria’s the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, ordered a restriction of all forms of vehicular movement on roads, waterways, and other forms of transportation from 12 midnight to 6:00p.m. on election day, with the exception of those on essential services such as, officials of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), electoral observers, press, ambulances responding to medical emergencies and firefighters.
According to the spokesman of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Mr. Muyiwa Adejobi, the directive excludes the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja as no election is being conducted therein.
“Similarly, the IGP reiterates the ban on all security aides to VIPs and escorts from accompanying their principals and politicians to polling booths and collation centres during the election.
“State-established and owned security outfits/organisations, quasi-security units, and privately-owned guards and security outfits are also barred from participating in election security management.”
Similarly, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant General Faruk Yahaya, has directed formation and unit commanders of the Nigerian Army to ensure that troops remain professional and apolitical during the election.
The army chief, who handed down the charge while addressing formation and unit commanders across the country, commended the troops for their overall performance in the provision of security during the last poll and admonished them to shun all forms of inducement, enticement or cajoling that could compromise the security of the elections, adding that a secure and safe atmosphere must be provided for the citizenry to exercise their civic responsibility of choosing their leaders.
He urged the commanders to intensify efforts at providing security support for the elections and be ready to respond promptly to any emergency situation, while prioritising the protection of key national infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, has announced that ECOWAS would be deploying 163 observers to the Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections in Nigeria to monitor the Gubernatorial and State Assembly Elections to be held on Saturday, March 18, 2023.
He said that the deployment of the 163 observers was in line with the provisions of Articles 42(2) and 44(b) of the 1999 ECOWAS Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security: Article 12 of the 2001 Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, and Article 53(c) of the 2008 ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework.
According to him, the mission will be backstopped by an ECOWAS Technical Team under the overall coordination of Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security.
He disclosed that ECOWAS deployed 250 observers across the six geopolitical zones of the country for February 25, presidential and national assembly elections.
Despite the assurances of a free and violence free polls on Saturday, the intimidation and violence that characterized the campaigns by the candidates and the political parties ahead of the polls may scare away millions of voters from participating in the elections.
Although some Nigerian officials and observers claimed that the presidential and National Assembly poll conducted on February 25 was credible free fair, but the reports of local civil society organisations and international media organisations and institutions stated otherwise. For instance, The Economist said a “chaotically organized vote and messy count” gave Nigeria a new president, while The Financial Times of London said in an editorial comment that our presidential election was “deeply flawed”, while The Washington Post quoted Matthew Page, associate fellow with Chatham House’s Africa Program, as accusing INEC of making both deliberate and unintentional mistakes: “They raised the hopes about the election and its transparency, and then they dashed them. When the opposition says the process was broken, it’s hard to argue with them.”
However, Nigerians are hopeful that the conduct of Saturday’s polls will not be a repeat of the February election, which was flawed and generally described as below acceptable standards, while the two parties which were runners up in the polls are already in court to contest the procedure and result of the election won by the ruling party.
GIK/APA