…As INEC boss says it recorded 11 attacks on its facilities in 2021, 41 within 2yrs
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu,
has stated that his principal, President Muhammadu Buhari is not interested in running for a third term in 2023.
The Presidential aide stated this yesterday while featuring on a TV programme.
Shehu also said the burning of police stations and offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), won’t stop the 2023 general elections.
He said, “It is very disturbing that INEC and police offices are being set ablaze in parts of the country by anarchists. I believe the law enforcement agents are sufficient enough to deal with them.
“Does anybody want to stop the election in 2023? President Buhari is not interested in third term; he is not cut out for that. So, there will be an election in 2023 and we will get there, God willing.”
Attacks on INEC offices especially in the South-East and in the South-South regions have been concerning of late with the chairman of the electoral commission, Mahmood Yakubu, describing the situation as a national emergency.
Some analysts have linked the attacks on INEC offices and police stations in the two geopolitical zones to the agitation for the Biafra Republic by secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra led by Nnamdi Kanu, but the IPOB leader has since denied the allegation.
The Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, has since inaugurated various special squads to combat the menace; yet, daring hoodlums whose identities remain faceless continue to desecrate Nigeria’s electoral sanctity by razing INEC offices, while killing scores of policemen.
This is coming on the heels 9f the revelation by the INEC boss, who said it had recorded 41 attacks on its facilities across the country within the last two years.
INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who disclosed this at the Commission’s emergency meeting with security agencies under the auspices of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), said the attacks on the Commission’s facilities should now be treated as a national security emergency.
