The Defence Headquarters says troops would be deployed to some states to ensure they are safe enough for the forthcoming elections to hold
This is followed by concerns raised by Sokoto, Imo, Katsina, Zamfara, Anambra and other states over the spate of insecurity in their communities.
A member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly representing the Sabon-Birni Local Government, one of the local government areas facing security challenges, Aminu Boza, said until the security situation improved in the area, elections might not take place.
The lawmaker, who spoke to one of our correspondents on the telephone, said more than 40 villages in the council were affected by insecurity.
He said only the headquarters of the Sabon Birni, Isa and Goronyo local government areas were safe for elections.
He stated, “I can tell you that most of the people in the villages in those three local governments have run away from their homes; who is going to participate in the elections?.
In fact, in all the eight local government areas comprising the Eastern Senatorial District, I doubt if there is going to be any election unless the situation improves from what we have today.”
The local governments are Isa, Sabon Birni, Goronyo, Rabbah, Gwadabawa, Ilela, Gada and Wurno.
Boza, however, commended the state Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Gumel, for dispatching security personnel to the local governments to restore law and order.
Also speaking, Mallam Haruna Abbah, a resident of Isa LGA, corroborated the lawmaker, saying only the local government headquarters and a few villages were safe for elections in the state.
Abbah called on security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure that peace returned to the local government before the polls.
Concerns have also been raised by other states where insecurity has been recorded, including Imo, Kaduna, Niger and Zamfara.
Responding to these concerns, the Defence Headquarters said it would deploy substantial troops to areas ravaged by terrorists, bandits and gunmen to ensure the safety of electorates during the polls.
The Director, Defence Information, Maj Gen Jimmy Akpor, told newsmen on Saturday, that, “Nobody is sleeping; we’ll continue to do our utmost and scale-up our operations, intelligence and physical, kinetic and non-kinetic activities to ensure that the environment is safe for socioeconomic activities.
“In those areas mentioned, you would have done justice by having feelers from security agencies in the areas. Yes, there are security challenges; they keep evolving and so also are we reviewing our processes to ensure that we are able to deal with them.
“Mind you, this is not a conventional threat; this is an asymmetric operational environment we are talking about. Just imagine somebody who will commit an offence against the state will not write it on his face. That is the asymmetric environment we are talking about.
“We are also reviewing our processes to deal with it. Mind you, it is an all-agency affair and you can imagine the level of synergy between the armed forces and all other security agencies.”
Akpor noted that the military was collaborating with other security agencies to further scale up the successes it had recorded against criminals and bandits.
He added, “No agency is doing it alone, there is collaboration in so many areas. On a fortnightly basis, you see the successes we recorded against the enemies of the state. The police, DSS, and other security agencies have their own achievements too. We are all doing our best to ensure the environment is safe.
“It is not (only) a matter of deployment. In an asymmetry environment, intelligence is key and the intelligence community is up-scaling their operations to ensure that terrorists are picked up before they strike.
“In Plateau State and other areas, you are aware of our operation, which is ongoing in that area; also in Zamfara and the likes, we have Operation Hadin Kai. Every operation is being scaled up as well as intelligence and you have been hearing of our successes.”
