2023 general elections: Key issues that threaten exercise
The 2023 general elections may be in limbo. Lots of issues threaten the exercise and there may be postponement or no election at all. President Muhammadu Buhari has often insisted that he doesn’t intend to extend his stay in the office.
Whereas INEC said that it has fully prepared for the elections. The commission said that it is putting everything in place and in order to hold the elections. But the polls are not about the commission alone.
The INEC boss Mahmud Yakoob had visited the Central Bank of Nigeria to take assurance from the apex bank on the adequate supply of cash for the 2023 general elections. Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor actually gave the assurance.
The governor said that the bank is not out to foil the work of the commission. He argued that the bank would make cash available for the operations of the INEC for the general elections.
However, if INEC gets enough cash that it needs for the elections, what about the people of the country? Nigerians have queued endlessly at the Automated Teller Machine galleries for the newly designed naira notes. There has been none.
They have protested in Lagos, Delta, Oyo, Edo, Ondo and a host of other communities in the country. The violent protests have turned violent to the extent of deploying soldiers to stop the crisis.
Will the commission spread its cash from the CBN to the people? Of course, that’s not possible. It can’t be. Then, the naira scarcity will threaten the 2023 general elections with the look of things. If the protests continue, INEC may have to postpone the elections.
What about the fuel scarcity? Definitely, there is now calm and normalcy in the country. People are getting the fuel at the stations even though some are still shutting their stations.
Several filling outlets still have long queues. They are struggling to control the crowd of people and fleet of cars that besieged their stations. There could be a spark of protests as a result of that.
INEC said it had also visited the NNPC for the purpose of the 2023 general elections. The NNPC has also assured the electoral umpire that there would be adequate fuel for the commission to convey the electoral materials and other logistics.
The last thing, but the most serious, on the list is the spate of insecurity in the country. Nigerian government still tries to nip the issue in the bud. There are still pockets of attacks of the gunmen in some parts of the nation. All of these threaten the 2023 general elections.
INEC facilities including offices have been targeted by unidentified gunmen in some parts of the country including Imo state. The commission had declared that there wouldn’t be elections in 204 polling units.
It’s not yet clear whom inec will visit for security assurance for the 2023 general elections. The commission couldn’t secure all its facilities. How can it then secure the main exercise next week? There are more threats than assurance.
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