Heed NSA’s admonition on 2019 polls

The warning issued to politicians on Tuesday by the National Security Adviser, Gen. Mohammed Monguno (retd), against arming bandits and terrorists to scuttle the forthcoming general elections should be heeded if they are patriotic Nigerians and lovers of democracy. Gen. Monguno gave the warning at a meeting with state governors at the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) Office, Abuja.

Also in attendance was the newly appointed acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu. He said that security reports available to him indicated that certain politicians were recruiting and arming bandits and terrorists with the intention of plunging the country into crisis over failed election ambitions.

 Gen. Monguno further revealed that intelligence reports had indicated that some individuals and groups that were uncertain of their fate in the forthcoming exercise had perfected plans to precipitate widespread violence during and after the polls. He said, “Their strategy is to cause crisis that could snowball into endless crises for the government and citizens.

“There are indications that these unscrupulous elements are already mobilising merchants of violence, including bandits and terrorists to orchestrate violence during the elections in several states of the federation.” He stressed that the interest of one individual or group was not greater than Nigeria, and urged the governors to secure their territories in line with their constitutional mandate of ensuring the safety of the people.

Gen. Monguno warned that no pseudo or quasi security outfits under any guise would be allowed to participate in election security duties. The security adviser also assured law-abiding Nigerians that government would demonstrate “zero tolerance for political thuggery and illegal bearing of arms.”

The Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Zamfara state, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, in a communiqué read to journalists at the end of the meeting, said that the NGF would seek stronger synergy with heads of security agencies in their states to strengthen pre-emptive measures of curbing violence. It also recommended stronger collaboration and intelligence sharing among security agencies to ensure all lives and properties were protected, regardless of individuals or groups.

He said the governors were concerned about the proliferation of arms and ammunition and the spate of kidnapping across the country. Gen. Monguno’s admonition is coming on the heels of a similar alarm raised by the newly appointed IGP Adamu. Mr. Adamu issued the warning while addressing deputy commissioners of police in charge of operations as part of the preparations for the polls.

He charged them to commence raids on black spots all over the country in order to curtail likely threats to the electoral process. In the same vein, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, weighed in and warned against the dangerous trend.

 The two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have been hurling accusations of plans to disrupt the forthcoming polls at each other. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, shocked the nation with the allegation that desperate politicians were arming bandits, including Boko Haram terrorist to cause mayhem during the exercise.

The PDP has specifically accused the Kogi state Government of stockpiling arms and training militia ahead of the polls. With just two weeks to the general elections and given the threats being traded all over the place, the warnings could not have come at a better time.

 It is obvious that there is apprehension ahead of the polls as it has characterised previous general elections since the nation returned to democracy in 1999.

Election years have always come with all manner of threats and counter-threats especially from desperate political actors that see the exercise as a do-or-die affair.

A situation where people feel so insecure during the elections to the extent of relocating to their hometowns or villages for fear of the unknown or having to stockpile foodstuffs and other needs is a sad reflection of our democracy.

The horizon is very gloomy and the social media warriors are not helping matters. This is just as the main political actors are fanning the embers of war with their utterances rather than selling their policies and programmes to the electorate.

Desperate politicians should also rein in their thugs who go about creating tension by destroying campaign billboards, posters as well as assets of those in the opposing camps.

Be that as it may, we urge the peace committees put in place at various levels to continue to wage peace during and after the polls. We also commend the security agencies for showing concerns and putting in place pre-emptive measures to address the threats that are flying across political divides.

And considering the quantum of illegal small and light weapons circulating in the country which is put at 350m, the security agencies should be put on the red alert to deal decisively with criminal elements posing any visible threats not only to lives and properties of all the participants in the electoral process but also those of innocent Nigerians throughout the conduct of the exercise.

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