…Go after elements working against the success of the polls
The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), and the Transparency International (TI) have called on Nigeria’s security agencies not to give room for the postponement or cancellation of the scheduled 2023 general elections..
They also cautioned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) against making pronouncements that will dampen the spirit of Nigerians towards the polls.
The chairman of TMG, who is also the executive director of CISLAC and country director of TI, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani gave the warning while speaking with journalists in Abuja on Monday.
According to, there will be more chaos if the 2023 general election is postponed than the security threat.
He therefore called on the security agencies to go after elements presumed to be working against the success of the polls.
“We are using this opportunity to caution INEC against making that kind of pronunciation. INEC should prevail on the government to provide security because Nigeria has suffered for democracy and will not succumb to threat and blackmail.
“The security agencies must rise up and prevent those who are working hard to stop the election from holding. If they postponed this election, the chaos would be more,” Rafsanjani said.
He opined that even at the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, the previous elections were not canceled.
“In Borno, Yobe and Adamawa where the Boko Haram crisis was high, elections were held. We do not think that individuals should threaten Nigerians from exercising their rights.
“If INEC is saying this, they want to succumb to what some people are planning. We call on everyone involved in the 2023 general election to ensure that we carry out the 2023 election in a peaceful manner,” he further said.
He advised Nigeria’s secret service to ensure that everyone threatening the peace of the country and planning to prevent the people from exercising their franchise is arrested.
“The security agents, both in uniforms and plain clothes, should rise up to their responsibility. Every stakeholder must rise up and ensure that violence or attacks do not occur.
“We call on Nigerians to insist that their fundamental human right is not truncated. There is no guarantee that anytime the election is fixed, these people will go to sleep. So, Nigerians must resist the activities of a few people who don’t want the election to be held,” Rafsanjani added.
