Buhari to Security Chiefs: Nothing must Stop Anambra Election
POLITICS DIGEST- President Muhammadu Buhari has told the Security Chiefs that nothing must be spared to ensure the peaceful conduct of the November 6 Anambra governorship poll.
The President said the order was necessary because his administration would not sit back and allow non-state actors to set the wrong precedent in the history of the nation’s electoral experience.
National Security Adviser (NSA) Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd) conveyed the Commander-in-Chiefs directive while briefing State House correspondents on the outcome of yesterday’s National Security Council meeting.
According to the NSA, the President made it clear to heads of security agencies that his government must do everything necessary to give Anambra people their constitutional right to vote, despite threats by non-state actors to disrupt the election.
To instill order in the state and allow a peaceful election, Gen. Monguno said security and intelligence agencies had been mandated to enforce peace.
He said: “Today’s (Thursday) meeting of the National Security Council focused its attention on several issues, primarily the elections in Anambra State, which will be held on the 6th of November. Council observed recent trends in which a lot of violent activities have been taking place and Council is desirous of seeing a hitch-free election being conducted by next month.
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“Now the problem here is that in as much as the government wants to conduct peaceful elections, there are non-state actors who have been heating up the polity, who have made all kinds of attempts to stop orderly elections for next month.
“The President has directed that under no circumstances will anything be allowed to stop the elections from taking place successfully, the people have a right to vote, they have a right to select their leader, and no group or individual will be allowed to stimulate anarchy and chaos, leading to murderous activities.
“The President has made it very clear that the armed forces, security agencies, and law enforcement agencies must make sure that the elections take place, if it means overwhelming the entire environment with the presence of security agencies.
“There are so many implications for elections to be sabotaged by non-state actors. In the first place, we’re in a democracy. Secondly, it is important to note that if these non-state actors should succeed in destroying the potential for orderly elections, then it is natural that other parts of the country will also want to copy this situation.
“Secondly, it’s not something that President Buhari will even contemplate a situation in which he is boxed into a corner. The mere thought that a group of non-state actors want to portray his government as not being able to be firm is totally out of the question.
“The tail cannot wag the dog, it is totally unacceptable and again, we in the security and intelligence community have been trying as much as possible to talk with the leadership in the Southeast, to make them aware of the fact that President Buhari is not averse to the aspirations of the people of the Southeast.”
