Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, spoke today about the implications of repeated attacks on the commission’s facilities ahead of the general election in 2023.
WITHIN NIGERIA reports that there have been a series of hoodlum attacks on INEC offices across states has been reported. The electoral body has lamented the situation in various publications, citing it as a setback to its preparations for the upcoming elections.
Yakubu, speaking to an audience at Chatham House in London on Tuesday (today), decried the increasing attacks, saying the implication was that the commission would have to continue rebuilding the burned-out facilities as well as replacing damaged materials.
Despite the development, INEC’s chairman stated that the commission is prepared to hold the 2023 general elections as planned.
According to Yakubu, at least 50 commission facilities have been attacked in the last four years. He did, however, assure that INEC had increased security presence in some of the attack-prone locations in collaboration with security agencies.
Yakubu recalled at Chatham House that the most recent attack on the commission’s facilities occurred last week Sunday, but the commission was able to respond quickly with the assistance of the military, reducing the extent of damage done to that attacked facility.
He said:
In four years, 50 facilities (have been) attacked in various parts of the country. The implications of the attacks is that we have to rebuild facilities and replace materials. The commission and security agencies have increased their presence in some of these locations. The last attack happened on Sunday last week but because of the cooperation between the military and the electoral commission, we were able to respond and the damage was limited to just a section of the building in a local government office.
The commission has repeatedly called for concerted efforts to control and check these attacks and in December last year the National Assembly held a public hearing on these attacks and we hope that authorities have these attacks under control and the response by the security agencies is more coordinated.
But in spite of these attacks we will rebuild facilities and replace damaged and lost items, the elections will hold, Yakubu said.