NSA warns trouble-makers to stay away from governorship, assembly elections

The National Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno, on Tuesday confirmed the readiness of security agencies to tackle any potential threat and violence during this weekend’s governorship and house of assembly election.

Monguno, who spoke at the meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in Abuja, however, said the security agencies do not envisage violence during the elections.

He added that the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Lucky Irabor and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, met recently as part of efforts at ensuring hitch-free elections on Saturday.

The NSA said: “Of course, the elections on Saturday are going to be much more complicated, and contextually different. First of all, we are going to have 1021 constituencies which mean more people are interested, and more people to vote. Obviously, the dynamics would be much more different than the elections that were just concluded.

“For the security agencies, I know a lot has been done. I have been talking with the Chief of Defence Staff, and with the Inspector- General of Police, who is the head of the lead agency in the process of elections.

READ ALSO: NSA Monguno warns politicians against violence in 2023 elections

“So far, so good, we do not envisage anything that is going to be terrible or apocalyptic in the next few days. But that does not mean that we should all do away with our state of readiness. We must comply with the rules. We must also allow everyone to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens of this country.”

He also urged parties and their supporters to be peaceful in order to ensure the expectations of Nigerians are met.

“While commending the efforts of the various political parties and the individuals that participated in the last elections, especially those of them that called for peace and calm, I want to also urge same individuals, especially at the state level to demonstrate the same level of maturity, discipline by calling their supporters to conduct themselves in a manner that is congruent with the expectations of a larger Nigerian society. Of course, there are channels for laying and addressing complaints.

“What we do not want to happen is for anybody to take the law into his or her own hands. We are going to give the maximum support to all entities involved in this process. And we are also calling on political parties to call their people to order,” Monguno added.

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