Photo Credit: Google About 16 days to the presidential election in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, there are still uncertainties on whether the election would hold or the commission would be forced, by unusual circumstances, to postpone the poll.
Although the electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is still highly optimistic that the election would hold as early as scheduled, no one, including the INEC chairman has been able to deny that there are challenges that may, unfortunately, necessitate the postponement of the election.
However, as we hope the concerned authorities would not prefer the election be postponed because of the cost burden it may impose on the country, some measures could be put in place to avert the unnecessary waste of national resources.
Basically, the primary threat that faces the 2023 presidential election is the regrettable economic hardship that millions of Nigerians face, today.
The burden on the average Nigerian which is imposed by both Naira and Fuel scarcity is a major threat that is being considered to lead to civil unrest which may, in turn, affect the election timetable.
To avert the emerging nationwide protest, the Federal Government of Nigeria may have to, as a matter of urgency, take a position to ease the hardship that the scarcity of fuel and currency imposes on the frustrated Nigerians.
Otherwise, if the government fail to do the needful at the right time and the citizens are frustrated to the extent of choosing a protest, it may lead to a more severe breakdown of law and this may negatively affect the election timetable.
Besides this, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may need to devise a means to approach the logistic regression that may cost the election as scheduled, if postponement of the election is to be averted.
Despite the scarcity of fuel, the INEC may need to standardise a mechanism it would adopt to get fuel for all vehicles that the commission intends to work with, for the moving of election materials to their various destinations.
Besides this, the Federal Government of Nigeria may need to anticipate attacks on various INEC facilities and personnel, days before the election. Hence, there may be a necessity to deploy as many security operatives to strategic areas across the 774 Local Government Area and set up special anti-electoral crime units among the security agencies, to ensure swift response to any attempt by the hoodlums to disrupt the election timetable.
Category: Forum
Tag: Nigeria news today
Written by Ejiro Hassan (ejiro)
Published 2/8/2023 7:14:14 AM