*Says those planning to undermine governorship, State Assembly polls should have a rethink
*Warns that such plans would not be in their interest or interest of Nigeria
*Insists that security agencies are ready and would ensure nobody takes law into his or her hands
*Assures all eligible voters must exercise their fundamental rights to vote
By Aaron Ossai
Bare 72 hours to the conduct of the governorship and state Assembly elections in 28 out of the 36 states of the federation, the National Security Adviser, NSA, Major General Babagana Monguno has warned that those planning to undermine the exercise should think twice because according to him, such plans would be in their interest or the interest of Nigeria.
Speaking at a meeting with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security preparatory to the governorship and state Assembly elections, the NSA noted that Saturday’s election would be more complicated, and contextually, are going to be different.
“First of all, we are going to have 1,021 constituencies. Meaning, we are going to have more people interested, more people voting, more collation centres and, obviously, the dynamics will be much more different than the elections that we have just concluded”, he said,
Speaking further, he commended the effort of the various political parties and individuals that participated in the February 25 elections, especially those that called for peace and calm and urged political gladiators and individuals at the state level to demonstrate the same level of maturity and discipline by calling their supporters to conduct themselves in a manner that is in sync with the expectation of a larger Nigerian society.
“So far so good, we do not envisage anything that is going to be terrible or apocalyptic in terms of the next few days. But that does not mean that we should all do away with our state of readiness. We must comply with the rules. We must also allow everyone to exercise their fundamental rights as citizens of this country. What we do not want happening is for anybody to take the law into his or her own hands.
“I want to be very clear in this, we are going to give maximum support to all entities involved in this process and we are also calling on the political bigwigs to call their lieutenants to order. Anybody who is itching to undermine this process should please think again. It is not in his own interest, it is not in the interest of the nation as wel”, he cautioned.
Monguno assured that he would be communicating with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC “if there is anything that needs to be done or added”, stressing that his office is open and readily available to give that support.
According to him, the security agencies would continue to work round the clock, stressing that all the crisis centres, as well as the communication systems are also open.
