By By Lateef Adeegbite
Barely six months to the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term in office, there are fears making the rounds in several quarters that the 2023 general elections expected to be conducted by the Indedent National Electoral Commission , INEC, under the close watch of Mahmod Yakubu, a Prfessor may not hold.
The fear became pronounced as Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the revered General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, had said ‘’God has not told him that there will be election in Nigeria or not in 2023.
Holding the monthly meeting with the Pastors of the religious Organisation at the redemption Camp recently, he was said to have told the Pastors that God told him ‘’what is his business with the elections’’. This may have further dampened people’s enthusiasm that there may not be any elections next ear. Even the attackers of INEC, offices, in various parts of the country, which the helmsman had said had led to the destruction of election materials and Private Voters Cards, PVCs may have the situation worse.
Mahmood Yakubu, a Professor and National Chairman, INEC, had said Nigerians have no cause to worry over the 2023 general elections notwithstanding the attack on it facilities in some states of the Federation . Mutiu Adegoke , the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in the south west state of Osun, was said to have corroborated the INEC National Chairman’s Statement, insisting that the 2023 general elections will be’ ‘conducted despite the attacks on its facilities’’. He spoke during a sensitization rally organised by the Commission in Collaboration with non-governmental Organisation Power of PVCs in Osogbo, the state Capital, on Saturday, December 17, 2022.
The REC, who may have spoken the mind of Prf. Yakubu, the INEC National Chairman, had told those that cares to listen that ‘‘ the deployment of the BIMODAL Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and the Results Viewing Portal, Rev, for Voter Accreditation and uploading of polling unit results in real-time had come to stay’’.
He was said to have warned Nigerians against vote trading, stressing that severe penalty awaits any person caught in the act. Only recently, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Director of Publicity and Advocacy. Northern Elders Forum, NEF, had raised alarm over what is happening in the north as some politicians were said to have taken advantage of the vulnerable persons in the region, particular, women, to buy their PVCs between N2.000.00 and N2,5000.00.
The NEF Director of Publicity and Advocacy had said that those involved in the practice of buying the PVCs are working for different political parties who target Communities where Candidates have Comparative advantages or disadvantages.
Baba- Ahmed, may have been forced to speak out to get INEC intervene to avoid the 2023 general elections in the region where’ ‘more women take interest in election activities than men’’ being sabotaged and which may derail the entire election process.
He may have alluded to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, which has Aswaju Bola inubu, a former governor of Lagos state as the Party Presidential Candidate for the 2023, general elections, and the Opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, which has Atiku Abubakar, a former Nigerian Vice President as Its Flag bearer, including the New Nigerian People’s Party, NNPP, which has Senator Rabiu Kwankwanso, a former governor of Kano state as its touch bearer for the elections.
The peps talk which the Katsina state born Nigerian President may have received from the Joe Biden the the North American Country of the United statesPresident, , US, during the recent Democratic Summit orgnised by the US, government, for six African Heads of States and Government , including the Nigerian President, may have informed why he had said that ‘‘INEC has no reason not to conduct free, fair and credible elections in 2023 as he has approved all that was requested by the electoral umpire for the elections to hold’’.
She was said to have opened up during an interactive session entitled , ‘‘ A conversation with President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria , Co-hosted by the US , Institute for Peace , USIP, the International Republican Institute, the National Empowerment for Democracy and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.
In apparent responses to all the questions that was said to have been asked him during the interactive sessions with the various US groups, he was emphatic , that ‘‘ INEC is ready for the 2023 general elections in Nigeria , ‘’ noting that he made sure they were given all the resources that they had asked for the elections because he don’t want excuses that they were denied funds by the government’’.
Also in support of the 2023 general elections, the US government was said to have budgeted $50 million for it. That much was confirmed by Mr. Will Stevens, US. Counsul General, in Nigeria in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state Capital recently. The Counsul General had sad said that the money will cover ‘‘the training of Journalists, Civil Society Organisations, CSOs, and technical Assistance to INEC to ensure a transparent exercise’’.
Ms. Samuela Isopi, the European Union, EU, Ambassador to Nigeria, who had visited Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo state , in Benin, the Edo state Capital recently had said that the EU, has pledged ‘‘ to support credible polls in Nigeria’’. She stated that the EU, has taken the bold initiative to support the Nigeria 2023 general elections because ‘‘it has been supporting election processes in the country since the return to Civilian rule in 1999’’.
According to her the EU has consistently deployed election Observers mission into the country and will not hesitate to do so in the 2023, general elections. She disclosed that the EU, has supported IEC and other stakeholders in the counry’s election process by providing ‘‘technical assistance as well as expertise’’.
