The 2023 general elections, according to Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), are in jeopardy if the constant attacks on the commission’s offices and infrastructure continue unabated.
The commission can replace some of the essentials that were destroyed, but the chairman acknowledged that there was a limit to how far the attacks could go.
Yakubu said at the beginning of an investigation session of the House Ad-hoc Committee of the House of Representatives on Friday in Abuja, which was looking into attacks on INEC offices and facilities.
The committee also expressed its concern with the Attorney General of the Federation’s office for claiming that it had not received any requests for the prosection of attack suspects.
“We are determined to continue with our preparations for the general elections in 2023,” Yakubu stated.
According to him, so far, all of the facilities have either been rebuilt or substituted, and materials have been changed.
He, however, said that the commission may find it increasingly challenging to recuperate in time for the election, if such attacks continue to occur at the current rate.
“Yes, we can recover if the attacks are stopped, but it will be very challenging for the commission to recover if the attacks go on. Since coordinated efforts to stop these attacks have become necessary, we expect that this public hearing will help achieve the desired result.
“The attacks have a significant impact on the general election planning. First, it would take time to reconstruct the damaged facilities, particularly the offices. They are not like things you can buy off the shelf for procurement. Therefore, a different layout must be made. Therefore, we would need to make alternate arrangements by renting in some of the states in addition to these harmful attacks and other issues that have developed as a result of fire and flooding. We can discover facilities to rent in some locations. We might not be able to find rental facilities in some of the distant places. Consequently, we need to find alternatives to destroyed facilities.
“Secondly, it would be necessary to replace a number of missing supplies. For instance, several of the PVCs were lost in the most recent attacks. But in order to reprint the PVCs, we have told our state offices to transmit the Voter Identification Numbers of the misplaced PVCs. In order to prevent citizens from losing their rights, we can swiftly regenerate and reprint the cards using data from our database.
“The commission and security agencies must continue to ensure safety surrounding the sites, which, as I previously mentioned, may be quite difficult given that the security services are also tasked with defending the rest of us and other national assets. Therefore, these attacks on our facilities are just additional difficulties that our security agencies don’t need.
“Now that the facilities need to be rebuilt, a number of things have put a strain on our finances. We cannot keep replacing and constructing. And what is much more concerning for us is the attack in Ebonyi State’s Izzi LGA.”
On May 18, 2012, a building was first attacked. To rebuild the office, we were able to find the funds in our election project plan budget. After our office was restored, our staff moved in on Friday. There are five such offices nationwide where, despite our best efforts, the facility was attacked not just once but twice. On Sunday of that weekend, the office was burned down once more. Even after we rebuilt or attempted to reconstruct five offices, they were assaulted once more.
After being interrogated by the lawmakers about the committee’s displeasure with the office of the Attorney General of the Federation regarding the arrest and prosecution that had not yet been made, the deputy director in charge of prosecution, Yusuf Abdullahi, claimed that no prior request had been made.
He declared, “Whether it is the IG, DSS, or other security services, the prosecution is under the purview of the office of the Attorney General. As far as the office is concerned, we have not formally received any request for prosecution on that one. However, once they forward the case to us for prosecution, with particular reference to the topic under discussion right now, which has to do with the arrest and prosecution of attacks on INEC offices. That is what our letter is about. But nevertheless, as soon as we learn about terrorism, banditry, or attacks, we take measures to make sure we retain legal counsel, review the facts, and bring charges.
However, Hon. Taiwo Oluga, the Chairman of the Committee, was not content.
“Are you saying your office hasn’t received any complaints for prosecution while we’ve had these constant attacks? Are you claiming that as of 2019, the Attorney General’s office has not received any requests for legal action from the police or INEC? That indicates that no arrests have been made. I made a statement because when a crime goes unpunished, it grows in impunity and the attorney general’s office is the only one who can assist us once they are caught, tried, and sentenced.
“You know, the Committee’s point is that the AGF’s office is in front of Nigerians and informing them that you haven’t received any. How many have you received if any? You ought to be prepared to inform Nigerians of your efforts if you are appearing before this committee.
“In order to continue, we’re going to take you on a different day. so you’re not prepared for us. You are not prepared for us, not even from your surrender. If you are unable to come and inform us that you are attempting to prosecute, that you have done so, and that you have done this or that, please do not. Because they are unable to bring charges after being apprehended, Because it is your office, you permit the evils to spread. That is what it means. Therefore, we will pick you up later. We’d talk to each other. Sadly, we have just three weeks to finish this homework. We would write to you once more, asking you to provide us your submission so we could incorporate it into the report we would present to the House.
Usman Baba Alkali, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), blamed the attacks on the covert actions of some politicians and secessionist organizations in the South East and South West in his presentation.
“The Nigeria police are the lead agency in internal security and elections generally are always at the receiving end,” the IGP, who was represented by the DIG in charge of the Department of Operations, Dandaura Mustapha, stated. It is the police’s responsibility to provide protection wherever it is needed.
“When INEC finally eased restrictions on campaigning, the campaigns started, and we initially realized that there were disputes between and among the parties. We were aware that some political party members were trashing campaign offices, billboards, and posters in certain states. We immediately notified the police commissioner in charge of the commands and gave them a clear direction stating that it is every political party’s right to campaign in every corner of society.
The right of a state governor or other governmental actor to stop political parties from moving around to conduct their campaigns is protected by the constitution. Now let’s talk about the recent attack on INEC infrastructure. the ones that occurred recently in Osun and Ogun, followed by those that occurred last week in Ebonyi, Imo, and Enugu.
“What we found is that — we all know in this nation, it is a well-known truth that we have issues with secessionists in the south-east geo-political zone, the IPOB and ESN. These organizations are adamant about preventing elections from happening in the southeast.
“They have been killing our employees and attacking our employees. They have been taking weapons from security agency personnel, including military personnel and other paramilitary groups present as well as police officers.
“They’ve been doing it, particularly since the campaign prohibition has been loosened. They are working hard to ensure that this election does not take place in the southeast political zone as it is approaching very quickly.
“In the southwest, we also have pro-Yoruba secessionists who are equally determined to win and prevent the poll from taking place in their areas, which is why there have recently been attacks on INEC in Osun and Ogun. Politicians and other interested parties have also funded those ones.
A problem with failing and hopeless politicians who are determined to prevent INEC from holding this poll also exists. Failure politicians are individuals who were unable to reenter politics through any political party; in their eyes, everything should spoil and disperse. To ensure that this general election does not take place and should not be successful, they are using that occasion to finance illiterate party members and hoodlums.
“Desperate politicians believe that since they are unable to stop taking all of these actions (to halt election reffing), they should encourage criminals to ensure that this election is a failure.
“We have all of these issues, and we have sat down with the state commissioner of police to discuss the IGP’s actions. In a meeting with political party leaders on November 17, the IGP invited members from INEC. We spoke at length about how political parties are free to conduct their campaigns in every state and how they should urge their supporters to stop engaging in hooliganism.
The IGP also met with representatives from the military, civil defense, and paramilitary organizations, as well as all operational officers from the other agencies.
“On Tuesday, the 13th of this month, we convened a meeting where all of the operational officers from all of the security agencies addressed the steps that should be done to protect the INEC facilities.
It is a well-known fact that there are secessionists in the South East who are determined to thwart elections. There is also the question of disgraced politicians who are determined to rig the election. The issue of retiring politicians is another.
“Most of the persons detained are related to powerful people, which makes the police less effective. The police are understaffed. Not quite four hundred thousand yet. We are understaffed. Additional finance is required for hiring. We need to replace the personnel we lose every day, he remarked.
Similar to this, Ahmed Audi, the Commandant of Civil Defense, claimed that the attacks were directed at the elections in 2023 and added that the Civil Defence had lost soldiers in the crisis, particularly in Imo state.
“It is obvious that one of the motivations behind the attack is to stop INEC from holding credible, free, and open elections. It could cost the government money and disenfranchise some citizens. To stop the attacks, we have sent more personnel than before. Additionally, we have installed surveillance at locations across the nation. said Mr. Audi.
In his own remarks, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the House of Representatives was extremely alarmed by the attacks prior to the elections in 2023 and that all hands must be on deck to stop the threat.
“It is because of this that the House of Representatives decided to establish an Ad-hoc Committee to look into the immediate and remote reasons of the ongoing attacks on INEC infrastructure in addition to strongly denouncing these nefarious activities. We really believe that the Committee will be able to issue comprehensive recommendations at the conclusion of this investigation that will not only put an end to these regrettable attacks on our democracy but also ensure that those responsible will be held fully accountable,” said Gbajabiamila.
