INEC: Insecurity can lead to cancellation of elections — but we won’t allow it happen

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it will not allow insecurity lead to the cancellation of forthcoming elections.

Abdullahi Zuru, INEC national commissioner and chairman, board of the Electoral Institute, said this on Monday at the validation of election security training resources in Abuja.

Zuru said the commission is not leaving anything to chance and is ensuring that intensive and extensive security is provided for election personnel, materials and processes, in preparation for the elections.

He said this is particularly important given the current insecurity challenges in various parts of the country.

“Moreover, if the insecurity is not monitored and dealt with decisively, it could ultimately culminate in the cancellation and/or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of elections results and precipitate constitutional crisis,” he said.

“This must not be allowed to happen and shall not be allowed to happen.

“Therefore, security personnel in particular and all election officials in general must be security conscious and alert to unusual activities in their environment and must be fully equipped to deal with any challenge at all times.”

The commissioner added that Babagana Monguno, national security adviser, and Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, have assured that a conducive environment will be provided for the successful conduct of the general election.

“Similarly, the inspector general of police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has conducted election security management workshops across the six geopolitical zones,” he said.

“On its part the commission, through the Electoral Institute, has institutionalised the development and implementation of a cascaded training mechanism for security personnel as a critical component of its training plan.”