The European Union has warned that next month’s general elections might not be held in parts of Nigeria due to a hostile “security climate”.
This comes at the heels of earlier concerns expressed by the Independent National Electoral Commission that the general election could be cancelled or postponed if nothing was done to tackle insecurity.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) later backtracked and said it does not plan a postponement.
The persistent warnings over the possible impact of rising insecurity on the forthcoming general election have become a cause for concern. The latest is coming from the Team Leader of EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria, Rudolf Elbling.
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Elbling raised the concern at a forum in Abuja that insecurity might prevent Nigeria’s electoral umpire from conducting elections in some areas, thus creating “a lot of legal implications for the entire process.”
However, earlier this week, the chairman of the Electoral Commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, said that elections will go ahead as planned and that he does not envisage any circumstances that could lead to their postponement.
Spiralling insecurity due to Islamist insurgency, attacks, kidnappings by armed gangs, and violent agitations in parts of the country appear to cast a shadow of fear over the coming polls.
