A member of the National Peace Committee, Idayat Hassan, has disclosed that there have been more than 134 attacks on the offices and personnel of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across the country as of January 2023.
Hassan made this known Sunday on Channels Television’s special election programme, The 2023 Verdict.
She lamented increasing violence in the country ahead of the 2023 general elections and wondered how the elections would be able to hold if these attacks continue.
“It is quite disturbing that this is actually happening at this point in time. The casualties are higher; the number of incidences is rising. Even when we often talk about attacks on INEC, we talk about over fifty something attacks on their facilities, it goes beyond that. So far there have been more 134 attacks on INEC facilities and personnel if you check on Armed Conflict Event Data which is the elite and number one in terms of monitoring violence.
“It is 134 as of January, like the first half of January. So, by now we don’t even know if this has actually increased. And when we take it only from the point of view of INEC, if this continues how can we have elections?” Hassan quizzed.
On what to do to mitigate the rising violence going forward, Hassan noted that the law which prohibits any other person apart from security agents from bearing arms at campaign grounds must be implemented.
“First, we have to go back to the implementation of the law. The rules are clear. If you are doing campaign, it is only the police or the security agents that are allowed to bear arms, no other person must bear arms. It is written, in fact they have this regulation and guidelines for political parties and for the campaigns which INEC has even demystified and shared,” she added.
Also, another guest on the programme, a retired Assistant Inspector of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, harped on the need for community policing in curbing electoral violence.
“Once you have situations like this, the role of community policing comes in. You must build partnership. I expect that the police in particular must continue to build on their partnership with their respective communities because these individuals causing this mayhem and terror on their fellow citizens are members of different communities. The police stations and DPOs must intensify partnership with communities,” Inalegwu said.