By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The National Security Council (NSC) chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, 22 February, 2023, had asked the INEC to go ahead with the conduct of general elections as planned.
The council assured that the police, the military and all security agencies were fully ready to ensure free, fair and credible polls.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, jointly briefed State House reporters on the outcome of the maiden NSC meeting in 2023 at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Malami said the meeting was fully briefed by the Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor, the three service chiefs, the IGP and heads of other security agencies about their readiness to provide the necessary security for the coming elections.
According to him, the meeting was a follow-up to earlier meetings of the Federal Executive Council and the Council of State held to affirm the readiness of the electoral body, the police and security agencies to go ahead with the general elections in the country.
The Minister of Justice said the meeting convened by the president to review the state of preparedness mainly focused on the coming elections.
“The summary and conclusion of all submissions were to the effect that the system is wholeheartedly ready for the conduct of the election and arising therefrom, the position of the government, the position of the president is to the effect that the election is holding on the 25th day of February, 2023 and Mr. President and the National Security Council are happy with the preparations on the ground and wholehearted arrangements are put in place in that direction.
“The summary of it, the conclusion of it, the resolution of the Council, is to the effect that the elections are holding and there is no going back about it,” Attorney-General of the Federation added.
The IGP, while also briefing, said the Nigerian Police, leading other security agencies and members of the armed forces and intelligence community, were prepared to ensure citizens exercised their right of voting and INEC performed her task as an umpire without any hindrances.
Asked if there were specific directives given by the president on the security issues, he said: “We have specific instructions. The specific instruction is that we should maintain law and order and we must ensure that Nigerians are allowed to come out and exercise their franchise or vote for the leaders of their choice and for that, we must create a conducive environment or atmosphere for Nigerians to exercise their right”.
“We must also provide protection for INEC materials and officials to do their work. We must ensure that before, during and after the election, whatever fallback it is, we do not have people who will take the laws into their hands and if there are any, we should be able to check within the quickest possible means to ensure that it does not snowball into a bigger crisis”.
On the combined security exercise on the streets of Lagos and Abeokuta, Baba said the joint operations were aimed at stabilising the internal security before the election, especially after the violence that trailed the currency swap policy, adding that “On the election day, you will not see them in polling stations, by the grace of God, we will be able to do that.”
