•8 LGAs may be affected in Katsina – SSG
•It’s part of manipulation plots or failure of govt – Ikokwu
•Banditry, insurgency, others may affect polls – Northern monarchs
•Insecurity poses threat to 2019 elections—AYCF
•2019: PDP, SDP raise alarm over growing insecurity

By Clifford Ndujihe, Ben Agande, Kaduna, Bashir Bello & Dirisu Yakubu

APART from the polity being heated up by campaigns of calumny, mudslinging, and exchange of brickbats by leading presidential candidates, insecurity is gradually panning out as a threat to next month’s general election.

Call for state of emergency not political, I am serious about it – Yari

Elections

Currently, some parts of the North-East and North-West geo-political zones are enveloped in insecurity. Specifically, Borno is writhing in pains inflicted by the Boko Haram prevailing insurgency.

Zamfara State since last year has been a hotbed of bandits who have attacked and sacked many communities.

This week, President Muhammadu Buhari’s state-Katsina was added to the list of restive states with the Governor, Aminu Bello Masari, lamenting that no one is safe in the state any longer on account of the activities of armed criminals, who he said attack people at will even in front of the Government House.

Indeed, the Secretary to the Katsina State Government, Mustapha Inuwa, yesterday, feared that the current security challenges may affect the conduct of the 2019 elections in at least eight local councils, if the security situation continued.

There is also the threat of former militants to return to the creeks and resume militancy in the Niger-Delta after ending the cease-fire agreement they had with some Niger-Delta elders and leaders on account of alleged failure of the government to meet their demands.

Disturbed by the parlous state of security in Zamfara, Governor Abdulaziz Yari, early in the week, called for a state of emergency in the state to address the problem.

He later said he is ready to quit as governor if a state of emergency is declared to solve the security problem in the state.

Asked whether the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, would hold election in the crisis-ravaged areas like Borno in the North-East, the National Commissioner and Chairman of Publicity and Voter Education Committee of INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye, said last week, that even though the commission was ready to conduct elections in all parts of the country next year, doing so in Borno would depend on the military and other security agencies.

Said Okoye: “INEC will conduct election in all parts of the country unless it becomes impracticable in some parts of the country or local governments but this decision will be taken based on security report, and our own internal dynamics and appreciation with the issue. In some of these local governments, we are going to document and conduct election at the local government headquarters rather than going into the remote areas where there are still challenges of insurgency. We are collecting data and compiling a report relating to each local government where we have security challenges.

“But for us to make this determination, we are going to work with the Nigerian military, we are going to work with SEMA and other agencies who are working in these areas to determine places where it is practically impossible to conduct elections.”

Councils under threat in Katsina

The front line affected local councils in Katsina where elections may not hold because of insecurity include Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Danmusa, Kankara, Faskari, Sabuwa, and Dandume. All eight councils share borders with the dreaded Rugu forest.

The Katsina SSG said ad-hoc staff to be deployed by the INEC to such affected areas might not go because of fear of insecurity.

Inuwa raised the alarm while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the extraordinary meeting with the Security Council and other critical stakeholders on the spate of insecurity in the state.

His words: “Certainly, if you allow these things to continue, whether you like it or not, in some areas it will affect the election. Like in the front line areas that you are talking about, in some of the polling units and wards, when you ask an electoral officer or ad-hoc staff to go, they may not go. So we have to secure the places before the election.

“The frontline affected local governments are Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Danmusa, Kankara, Faskari, Sabuwa and Dandume. The effect goes beyond that up-to Kafur. There were also reported cases of kidnapping in Zango.

“The number of people kidnapped in Katsina within six to eight weeks now has been so much. If you look at the record of kidnapping we had before now, this current number has beaten the record.

“It is really unfortunate; it is sad and no responsible government will allow this to happen. We decided to call for that meeting, where the governor rightly said that the state is literally under siege by kidnappers. The meeting is to demonstrate further concern of the governor about the challenges we are facing especially in recent times.”

Inuwa blamed the resurgence of insecurity on lack of synergy in the fight against insurgency between the affected states and security agencies to end the ugly trend. He said the Governor has taken it upon himself to spearhead talks with other affected state governors including Niger Republic to come together with the security agencies to ensure well-coordinated activities to eliminate and address the menace.

“It was also decided that the security personnel particularly the police are grossly inadequate. The Governor gave a directive that a letter be written to that effect and addressed to the Inspector General of Police, IGP and to be signed by him to increase the number of security personnel and equipped them with modern security apparatus.

“It is believed by almost everybody that most of the kidnapping cases are planned and perpetrated by people living together as a community. They have informants that always inform them of the movement of individuals and their targets.

“We looked at the possibility of gazetting some of the forest areas where criminals hide particularly forests in the urban areas where the purpose of which they were created was to give grazing reserves for livestock but they are no longer there. So they use that place as a hideout. They kidnap people and take them into the forest. So people suggested they should be converted to farmlands to curtail the menace.

“So a committee has been set up with the Secretary to the government of the state as Chairman and all the security chiefs, representatives of traditional leaders, heads of local government, vigilante, with other critical stakeholders are members to look into the deliberations, and a draft way out and advice the government on how best to approach and address the issue.”

If it’s not part of rigging plot, it’s failure of FG — Ikokwu

Speaking on the issue, Second Republic Politician and an elder of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Guy Ikokwu looked at from two prisms: Part of a grand design to manipulate the 2019 general polls or failure of the APC-led Federal Government to fulfill its pre-election promise of tackling insecurity.

His words: ‘’If these (killings, security threats and comments of Zamfara and Katsina states governors) are not part of grand manipulation of the polls, they show a lack of accountability on the part of the Federal Government whose change manifesto was based on three precepts: anti-corruption, security and the economy. Have they fulfilled these promises? The indices released by international organisations show otherwise. It is blatant that Nigeria is poorer today.”

Banditry, insurgency, others may affect polls – Northern monarchs

Looking at the scenario, Northern Traditional Rulers Council Assembly, said insecurity, campaign of calumny and failure of politicians to honour the 2019 general election peace accord may hurt the polls.

They said honouring the accord would reciprocate President Muhammadu Buhari’s pledge to ensure free and fair 2019 elections for continued peace and unity of the country.

They made the call in a communique signed by Coordinating Committee Chairman and Emir of Gummi, Justice Lawal Hassan after their 5th General Assembly, in Sokoto last Tuesday.

The traditional rulers’ resolution described the election year as crucial, noting that all over the world, people were watching Nigeria, being the country with the highest population in Africa.

They commended the Independent National Electoral Commission on its preparations and resolve to assist the electoral body in every way possible to achieve the desired goals.

The council appealed to the executive and legislative arms of government to ensure adequate funding and other relevant arrangement and support towards the successful conduct of free and fair 2019 elections.

They decried the rising level of hate speeches, bickering, do-or-die political campaigns, vote buying, and money politics, noting that it was sad and unfortunate to use innocent youths as political thugs.

They appealed to parents to always monitor their wards and also urged politicians to change tactics and honour decorum, to avoid serious consequences of their electoral misconduct.

The assembly noted that cases of kidnappings, banditry, insurgency, farmers/herder clashes and other forms of crimes might affect the successful conduct of the general election.

The event was attended by Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and three representatives from traditional councils of 19 states.

Insecurity poses threat to 2019 elections—AYCF

The President of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima warned that the insecurity in the northern part of the country poses a serious threat to the polls.

In an interview with Vanguard, Yerima said: “The alarming level of insecurity in the land is a sufficient threat to the 2019 elections. What do we do with the prospects of election officials being kidnapped for ransom? How do we conduct elections in the Northeast with the reported resurgence of insurgency? How do we get the attention of the

2,000 new set of refugees in the Northeast? These are examples of the danger confronting us, ahead of the 2019 elections.

“ I blame the absence of good governance. It is disheartening that the ruling APC, which promised to do whatever it would take to make Nigeria great has failed woefully. It is evident now that we, as a people, have been misled for almost four years.

“But at the heart of this growing insecurity in the land is the failure of APC government’s economic policies that saw our naira tumbling down. Sadly,

any criticism of the APC government’s poor policies is tagged an attack against the government. And they don’t take corrections because they see the opposition not as stabilising force but an affront on President Buhari, who himself seems confused about the real direction the country is going.’’

In his reaction, former Chairman of  Nigerian Bar Association in Kaduna State, Mr.  Napoleon Idenala said the government must live up to its responsibilities.

2019: PDP, SDP raise alarm over growing insecurity

Similarly, the  Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, expressed fears over a possible boycott of the polls in some parts of the country as a result of increasing security threat in the country.

Speaking exclusively with our correspondent yesterday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan said unlike in 2015 when elections held across the country; the rate of killings, especially in Borno, Zamfara and Yobe states, he said, had become worrisome.

“If there is a will, these killings can be stopped and we call on the federal government to swing into action and bring this wanton destruction of lives and property to an end.

“It is only when people are secured that they can think of going out to vote.” he said.

On his part, National Vice-Chairman (South-West) of the SDP, Professor Tunde Adeniran, said the onus is on the military to quickly checkmate the killings, saying failure to do so may lead to some eligible voters unable to cast their ballots in 2019.

“If the authorities allow the security crisis to escalate or degenerate, it could affect the conduct of the elections. But if curtailed, it would not have an effect on the elections,” he said.