NATIONAL Security Adviser (NSA) Babagana Monguno has disclose that 52 cases of electoral violence were recorded in 22 states across the country in the last month.
Monguno spoke during an emergency meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security in Abuja on Friday.
He warned political parties to caution their officials and supporters, stating that perpetrators would not go scot-free.
Read Also:
- INEC should take blame for any electoral violence – Security expert
- Electoral violence in Lagos: Tales of agony, pain ring loud
- Electoral violence: Kano’s Tudun Wada residents demand justice
Monguno said President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to ensuring a free and fair election; hence a directive has been given to security agencies to avert attacks and arrest perpetrators.
Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, who spoke at the event, said the uncollected 65,699 Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) burnt at the Commission’s office in Ogun State would be replaced.
The ICIR reported that an office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at Iyana Mortuary in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, was set on fire by suspected hoodlums in the early hours of Thursday.
The hoodlums set the INEC building on fire after gaining access to the premises through the fence.
About 65,699 uncollected PVCs were destroyed in the inferno.
Chairman of INEC Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, confirmed that 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones, 57 election bags, and eight electric power generators were also destroyed in arson attacks on the Commission’s offices in Ogun and Osun states on Thursday, November 10.
The attacks occurred separately at INEC’s offices in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State and the Ede South Local Government Area Of Osun State.
Also, there were reports that the convoy of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was attacked in Maiduguri on Wednesday, November 9.
Reports had it that at least 74 persons were hospitalised and more than 100 vehicles vandalised in the attack, which reportedly occurred when Atiku visited Maiduguri for a campaign rally.
Images of various vandalised vehicles from the attack also surfaced online.
Atiku was in Borno in continuation of his campaigns for the 2023 presidential election.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance