Despite the worsening security situation in the Southeast, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured the people of Anambra state that the November 6 governorship election would hold as scheduled.
The commission noted that 6,000 locations and about 26,000 officials to be deployed for the November 6, Anambra governorship election, would need adequate security to ensure their safety.
According to INEC, these included the movement of huge consignments of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the 21 Local Government Areas of the state, 326 wards or registration areas and 5,720 polling units. INEC chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, who said this Tuesday, at an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), underscored the magnitude of the challenge of securing the Anambra governorship election which is only 32 days away from yesterday (Tuesday).
He said the essence of the meeting, was “to firm up on specific measures necessary to further guarantee the safety of all persons involved in the election from the voters, election officials, observers, media organisations and the security of election materials.”
“The Commission is particularly concerned about the safety of voters and Election Day staff, including security officials who have also become the targets of these attacks.
“The thousands of young Nigerians that we intend to deploy for the election, most of them National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and university students, need to be reassured of their personal safety.
“At the same time, deployment for the election will involve the movement of huge consignments of sensitive and non-sensitive materials to the 21 Local Government Areas of the State, 326 Wards or Registration Areas and 5,720 Polling Units.
“That means over 6,000 locations to be protected. If we add that to about 26,000 officials that will be deployed for the election, we begin to appreciate the magnitude of the challenge of securing the Anambra Governorship election which is only thirty-two (32) days from today.”
Prof Yakubu further spoke on the urgency of and importance of the security agencies in the conduct of elections.
“Perhaps never before in our history has the importance of election security in a Governorship election been this urgent. The commission is aware that this is by no means an easy task.
“We appreciate the enormous challenges that the security agencies are presently facing in Anambra state, which entail not only securing the electoral process, but also enforcing law and order generally.
“This is, particularly, worrisome because the security agencies have also become prime targets of these mindless attacks.
The INEC boss stated that the commission had convened the emergency meeting of ICCES “in the light of these recent and seemingly escalating threats to the election.
“We will continue to work with the security agencies and in consultation with respected opinion leaders in Anambra State and the National Peace Committee to ensure that these hit-and-run attacks do not derail the electoral process.”
Also speaking, the representative of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and co chairman of the ICCES, Mr Sanusi Galadima acknowledged the security threat to the Anambra governorship election.
He said the NSA, other security and intelligence agencies were working assiduously to arrest the ugly trend in South East and beyond.
According ro him, the derermination has already being translated into action by the recent military joint operation in the south east as well as other security operations in the country.
While adding that there was slso collaboration with south east governors towards addressing the menace, he also pledged Federal governlent’s commitment towards protecting lives and property of law abiding citizens in the country.
