Insecurity: Sharia Council urges INEC to hold elections one day

The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) has advised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold the general elections the same day due to rising insecurity in the country.

Many Nigerians have expressed fear about the conduct of the elections over the threats posed by Boko Haram, bandits and other non-state agents.

But the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmoud Yakubu, had allayed fears on the elections, saying the dates announced by the commission are sacrosanct.

The Secretary General of the SCSN, Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed, who spoke at a press conference in Kaduna on Sunday, however, expressed doubt over the conduct of the elections.

The Council called for the postponement of the national census scheduled to begin in March.

It also decried the fuel scarcity, inflation, and other problems in the country.

The statement read: “The first election is the presidential and National Assembly elections. Our fear is that in the light of the precarious security situation in the country and the fact that admission by security agencies that are overstretched, it is quite possible, in fact highly probable that some desperate politicians who might lose the election will trigger political violence to the extent that the subsequent elections may not hold.

“In light of this, we engage all those that matter. We met with some of the key security chiefs who expressed their understanding of the situation and agreed with us that their manpower is already overstretched. And it is going to be a situation and an uphill task to cope with political violence.

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“We, therefore, advised that INEC should be prevailed upon to hold all the elections on the same day. This way we will avoid a situation where some desperate politicians that are about to lose cannot create chaos in the country such that we will be left with an election half held, half on hold.”

“We can recall that for a lesser reason President Jonathan postponed the 2015 election, but elections were eventually held. Therefore we call on all well-meaning Nigerians, the government, particularly, INEC to reconsider their position and organise these elections to hold in one day.

“We in the Supreme Council for Shari’a will do all we can to appeal to Nigerians to make the necessary sacrifice to vote no matter how long it takes, let’s vote in one day, let’s have the elections held in one day so that all be clear to everybody.

“Also it should be considered that the national population census should be put on hold for now because the timing is wrong.

“We urge our fellow Nigerians to be extra patient, exercise restraint, and use their voter’s cards as the weapons with which to bring about positive change.”

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