2023 Polls: CSO Casts Doubt Over Safety of Sensitive Materials As CBN Boss Refuse To Resign
- Concerns have been raised over the readiness of Nigeria's electoral body (INEC) in handling logistics at the 2023 polls
- The safety of sensitive materials has become an issue since the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele declared his ambition to run for the presidency
- Similarly, the issue of insecurity has become prevalent and civil society groups have begun to call for accountability in security agencies
FCT, Abuja - Nigeria's civil society organization, Connected Development (CODE) has raised doubts over the readiness of the independent national electoral commission (INEC) in handling the logistics of the forthcoming general elections in 2023.
The civil society group made this known at its headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday, August 17 while reeling out its annual security reports.
Source: UGC
Emmanuel Njoku, CODE's director of governance while speaking with pressmen on the possible shortcomings of the 2023 general elections said:
"The only challenge will be on the path of INEC’s logistics, and we understand election in Nigeria is 80% logistics, materials need to be distributed, getting to the polling unit on time, etc, if INEC will handle logistics on their path, then I believe this will be the best election in Nigeria. Voter turnout will be high."
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He further made reference to the build-up in the gubernatorial polls in Ekiti and Osun state respectively.
Njoku said:
"Another challenge I believe will affect us is the election that happened in Ekiti state and Osun state, INEC before now usually take their materials to the CBN but there is a challenge we all know the CBN governor was running for the presidential seat and when this typically happens, we expect the CBN governor to resign.
"Now the Ekiti and Osun state elections, INEC did not move their materials to CBN, because CBN is a party to the election so you cannot take sensitive materials there. I am still hoping the CBN governor will resign because there is no way INEC move all these sensitive materials across Nigeria."
Nigeria ranks 6th most terrorist country - CSO
While reeling out its security, Dr. Ani Nwachukwu, CODE’s head for research and policy, said Nigeria now ranks the sixth most terrorist country in the world according to the Global Terrorism Index.
Dr. Nwachukwu noted that there are works ongoing to combat insecurity heading into the crucial 2023 general elections.
He said part of the efforts in place is the adoption of this macro analysis report to systematically track security breakdown across the federation through the process of conducting incident and trend analysis to synthesize security advisories.
Dr. Nwachukwu further noted that while the approach is ongoing, CODE will make recommendations, aggregate and mobilize the voices of key players in conflict management and intelligence production.
He said:
"Nigeria has increased military spending or defense budget to enhance its military power and improve security conditions but attacks are not subsiding accordingly as recent trends have shown that security breakdowns are worsening despite huge budgetary provisions.
"As a leading civil society organization, CODE is using this macro analysis report to highlight the missing gaps of accountability within our security sector especially as scarce resources are allocated to the detriment of critical sectors like education and health without corresponding outcomes on peace and political stability."
Ekiti post mortem: Yiaga Africa charges CSOs on solution activism
Meanwhile, civil society organisations have been urged to champion the course of ensuring transparency in electoral practice.
Election observer group, Yiaga Africa made this call recently during an interface with the electoral stakeholders and CSOs in Ekiti state.
According to Yiaga Africa, the post-Ekiti election engagement forum is to evaluate and reflect on the successes and challenges faced during polls.
Source: Legit.ng
