Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has raised an alarm over plans to disrupt the February 3 re-run and bye-elections in parts of the country.
Speaking at the first quarterly meeting of the Interagency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) on Tuesday, January 23, Yakubu challenged the security agencies to make the environment conducive for the conduct of the elections.
He said;
“From experience, the conduct of isolated elections such as bye-elections and re-run elections can be very challenging. We must pay attention to the potential for disruptive behaviour by some candidates and their supporters.
“A re-run election conducted in one Polling Unit (PU) or a handful of Polling Units (PUs) can be severely disrupted by acts of thuggery knowing full well that these few locations will determine the outcome of the election.
“Arising from the reports we received from the states, concerns have been raised about the impact of the prevailing insecurity in some states on the conduct of the elections, made worse by incendiary statements by some political actors.
“There are two categories of elections. First are the bye-elections arising from the death or resignation of members of the National and State legislative houses affecting two Senatorial Districts, four Federal and three State Assembly Constituencies. The second category is the re-run elections by order of Election Petition Appeal Tribunals.
“In my remarks at the Commission’s extraordinary meeting with leaders of political parties last month, I reported that the elections affect 35 national and state constituencies. Since then, four additional orders of the Court of Appeal have been served on the commission in respect of Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency of Sokoto State, Madara/Chinade State Constituency of Bauchi State as well as Kudan and Kauru/Chawai State Constituencies of Kaduna State.
“This brings the total number of affected constituencies to 39 which translates to 2.6% of the 1,491 constituencies for which elections were conducted nationwide in the 2023 General Election.”