The rise in cases of electoral violence and insecurity is taking is becoming scary and poses a big threat to the upcoming general elections even as it fouls the political atmosphere. With barely 100 days into the general elections, insecurity and acts of violence are assuming a scary dimension. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reported the tracking of 50 incidents of physical attacks at campaign rallies across 21 States of the federation while the INEC offices have attacked up to 47 times in the last 33 months.

Mr. Festus Okoye, INEC National Commissioner Information and Voter Education

Yet, at midnight of Thursday, 10th, November 2022, around 1:15 am the Ogun state office in Abeokuta south local government of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was torched by some unidentified hoodlums who gave no reasons for their destructive action and are still at large. Mr. Festus Okoye, INEC commissioner for information and voter education revealed that in that attack, 65,699 uncollected Permanent Voters Cards were destroyed in the fire incident. He further enumerated that 904 ballot boxes, 29 voting cubicles, 30 megaphones and 57 election bags were all razed by the inferno.

The Commission also reported that one of its offices in Osun state was razed down on the same day. Mr. Okoye decried the rising cases of attacks and various acts of political intolerance by different political parties, in which politicians are using hate and incendiary language. Due to the shocking incidents, the electoral commission called an emergency security meeting in its office over the simultaneous attacks on its facilities. The meeting held on Friday.

The spate of insecurity and electoral violence should be of concern to all well-meaning Nigerians. The Independent National Electoral Commission, after suffering from multiple vandalisations and arson, in April this year, announced that it has lost nothing less than 99,836 smart card readers in over 42 attacks on its offices and staff in three years. The question is: Why is INEC always at the receiving end of violence– either by loss of properties or by loss of personnel?

INEC, in its violence timeline, reported that as of May 2021, there were 41 attacks on the commission’s facilities across 14 states in the country between the years 2019 and 2021. In 2019, the electoral body recorded 9 incidents in 4 states, in 2020, it recorded 21 incidents in 9 states and 2021, 11 incidents occurred in 7 states. In the report, INEC indicated that the nature of attacks includes 18 arsons, 20 vandalisation, 3 arsons and vandalisation.

Furthermore, while enlisting the types of incidents and the parties that are responsible for violence, the election umpire revealed that one of these attacks was from bandits, one by the Boko Haram, four post elections violence, 18 EndSARS protests, 11 by unknown gunmen, 6 from elections thuggery.

The commission also stated in another report that over 1000 people, including the commission’s employees and security personnel, lost their lives in the past three elections cycle held in 2011, 2015 and 2019. Also, in these attacks, some of the voting materials like ballot boxes, ballot papers and cubicles were destroyed just like it is currently happening. One can deduce that the attacks on the electoral commission and its facilities are a projection of an old habit which does not die.

Which way to go? Experts weigh in

The attacks on the INEC’s facilities have started generating concerns amongst Nigerians, political analysts, security experts and stakeholders who are worried on the fate of the coming 2023 general elections. Mr. Timothy Avele, a security expert and Managing Director of Agent-X Security Limited, said the recent attacks on INEC offices in Ogun and Osun are a bad omen to the coming elections. He admonishes that proper investigation be done to expose the perpetrators and their motifs adding that vandalisation of electoral properties poses a huge threat to the democratic governance in the country.

“This signals a dangerous angle to the look of things as the general elections draw closer. Destroying INEC facilities in the South East before now and now moving to the Southwest of all places indicates a serious emerging threat to the election. These attacks are serious threats that could pose dangers to democratic governance if not properly tackled by the security and intelligence agencies”, Mr Avele said.

Given the situation attached to the sensitivity of the 2023 elections, Mr Avele called for more security Intelligence to mitigate the lingering violent outburst in Nigeria. He also urged the political class to abide by the law stipulated by the INEC about steering clear of hate expressions, which could stir violence in their campaigns. He counselled that the security and Intelligence agencies must as a matter of urgency set-up political threat alert systems, using Open-source intelligence techniques to foresee likely attacks and location of possible attack before it happens.

“Secondly, all political actors must abide by the peace accord they signed. Lastly, the government should make an example of anyone inciting political violence by words or actions irrespective of political affiliation by using all legal means. The security agencies should prepare for pre-election and post-election Security threats using various risk analysis thresholds. They should be aware that more violence is expected than ever before and work towards minimizing and mitigating against the expected threats”.

Meanwhile, some police commands are already overhauling their security architecture, though much more is expected to be done centrally. The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Police Force, Osun state chapter, Yemisi Opalola told NDR that the police is working to mitigate the type of event that happened in Ede town in the future.

According to her, “The CP has directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations/Area Commanders and the DPOs to put in place maximum security in INEC offices and other critical government infrastructure in the State to avert any further occurrence.”

Her counterpart in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said all hands must be on deck across the country to overpower criminalities in elections period. He added that it is the responsibility of the police to ensure safety during elections period and the police are striving to fortify INEC facilities against such attacks in the future.

“Although this is the first time INEC office will be attacked on Ogun state. But we need to ensure that recurrence of such incidents doesn’t happen. Right now, we are fortifying all INEC facilities in our domain, we need to work against such occurrence in the future. Yes, this cuts across the whole country, the Inspector General of Police has instructed that all INEC offices be seriously guarded” DSP Oyeyemi said.

The importance of the 2023 general elections calls for deeper security networking amongst all the security agencies in the country. They must assure Nigerians through their proactivity that there will be a safe environment before, during and after the elections. The right of the people to decide and their free movement on the day of the elections as constitutionally guaranteed must be protected. On this election, Nigeria must stop being in the news for wrong reasons.