Enyinnaya Abaribe, the senator for Abia South District, has told Nigerians that the disturbance in the country’s South-East geopolitical zone won’t disrupt the 2023 elections in the region.
Abaribe also urged the five governors of the South-East to work together to end the turmoil in the region permanently rather than trying to do so on their own.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, Abaribe said, “For some time we have not heard that all the governors have met. They are the chief security officers of their states.
“When they come together and take a stand everyone will follow, but each of them seems to want to do their own thing separately and it is not working because this is a regional issue.
“For example if you pursue them in Imo they extend themselves to Anambra, if you push them in Anambra they run to Ebonyi, you push them in Ebonyi they run to Enugu.
“So every one of us must come together and work and work to bring peace to Igboland. But this will not affect the election, I tell you. You will see that the elections in the South-East will be free, will be fair and with BVAS the results will show who the people trust or not.”
There are only a few weeks left until the February 25 presidential election, and rogue hoodlums have destroyed many of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) South-East offices. In addition, dozens of security personnel have been murdered by gunmen, raising concerns about the security of the upcoming elections.
Abaribe attributed the South-insecurity East’s to outside forces that work with some locals to prevent people from exercising their rights in a free and impartial manner.
The lawmaker claimed to have met with Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), who has been declared a terrorist organization and is being held by the Department of State Services (DSS), and that Kanu informed him that Monday sit-at-home days are unique to the five states in the zone—Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Enugu.
“All that is going on is that some merchants of violence and destruction have taken over and commit crimes and when they do that, they now say it is this group or that group,” he added.