In contrast to past election years, the 2023 election campaign may be tainted by the antics of the ruthless bandits and unidentified gunmen who have been terrorizing the nation’s unaware population.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC, had set September 28 as the start of the 2023 election campaign, as furuci novel recalled.
However, the security situation that is roiling the entire country may ruin campaign efforts in a number of States, particularly in the Northern and Southeastern regions.
The daredevil unidentified gunmen still pose a serious threat to peaceful gatherings in the Southeast even as the Boko Haram insurgents and the Islamic State of the West African Province, ISWAP, fighters continue to wreak havoc in the North.
In the wake of the Indigenous People of Biafra, or IPOB, being outlawed for agitating for secession, furuci novel recounts that numerous government buildings that belonged to the electoral body had been attacked and demolished by unidentified gunmen. The IPOB, meanwhile, continues to distance itself from the actions of the unidentified shooters.
According to INEC, armed non-State actors have attacked roughly 41 of the commission’s offices in Nigeria during the previous two years and destroyed numerous buildings.
The attacks took place between February 2019 and May 2021 in 14 States, according to data that the commission just disclosed.
The Southeast, in particular Imo State, led the list of countries with the most attacks throughout the examined time.
Mahmud Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, stated that these attacks were the consequence of election-related violence, protests unrelated to the elections, and the actions of thugs and unidentified gunmen.
Similar to this, as the nation gets ready for the general elections of 2023, terrorist organizations, including armed bandits, have threatened a battle with politicians.
Less than a month prior, furuci novel had reported that politicians in Taraba State were in a panic after being warned by bandits not to engage in any political activity.
Musa Abdullahi Chul, the chairman of the Gassol Local Government Area, who acknowledged the danger, stated that several regions of the local government had been designated as “no go areas,” highlighting the fact that the bandits have evicted inhabitants and seized their possessions.
He acknowledged that local politicians, in particular, had been threatened and warned that “the acts of these bandits have taken another dimension.”
He claimed, “They constantly threatened us, and now they claim that they are waiting for political campaigns to start so that they might kidnap some of the candidates for the 2023 election in order to make quick and large sums of money.”
Speaking with furuci novel on Saturday, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja, John Akpehe warned politicians against jeopardizing lives of citizens during the campaign.
According to him, “we have seen several times when politicians were attacked and we discovered that nothing happens to the politicians, it is always the ordinary Nigerians that usually pay the price.
“So I am appealing to all candidates to put the lives of Nigerians first. Where you know that an attack is likely to happen, there is no need to hold a rally in such a place.”
Also, a human rights activist, T. Patric Moha expressed fear that cases of ritual killings and kidnapping may rise as a result of the coming elections.
He said, “All I will say is that everyone should just be careful. We all know how politics is played out in this part of the world. It is mostly a spiritual battle, sacrifices upon sacrifices.
“You will soon start hearing how people, especially children, will be missing mysteriously here and there. So everyone should be vigilant ‘no let anybody use you’”.
Efforts by furuci novel to reach the Nigeria Police Force for comment on their preparedness for the electioneering activities proved abortive as the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi could not take his calls.
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