By Abdulsalam Mahmud

This weekend, there will be gubernatorial elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States. The off-cycle polls are coming barely seven months after the 2023 general elections.

The tenure of Governor Yahaya Bello in Kogi is winding down, while Senators Duoye Diri and Hope Uzodinma want to renew their mandates in office, as Bayelsa and Imo Governors, respectively.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has already assured that it will conduct a peaceful exercise in the three states. In a press statement via its official X account, INEC recently said that its preparedness for the three guber elections is emphasized by its delivery of non-sensitive materials and the successful conduct of a mock accreditation exercise involving actual voters in designated polling units in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi.

The electoral commission said that the elections will involve 5,409,438 registered voters that will vote in 10,510 polling units, scattered across 649 electoral wards within 56 Local Government Areas. It also added that several preparatory activities, including training, are underway.

In all, INEC stressed that the mock accreditation carried out (in the three states) over a month ago was to achieve its main objectives, which are “First, to test the efficacy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for especially biometric authentication of voters. Second, to upload the result to the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV). Both tests were successful.”

However, violence is one malady that has always gripped elections in the country, since 1999. It appears to be a recurring decimal. During the last Kogi governorship poll, a PDP woman leader, Mrs. Salome Abuh, was burnt to death.

Abuh, the woman leader of Wada/Aro Campaign Council, Ochadamu Ward, was burnt alive in her home by suspected political thugs. In November last year, former National Security Adviser, Maj. Gen. Babagana Monguno (rtd), disclosed that 52 cases of political violence occurred across 22 states in one month, ahead of the 2023 polls. Between 2019 and 2022, hoodlums also attacked more than 50 INEC offices in 15 states.

In the run up to the forthcoming guber elections, violent attacks have been launched on some of the frontline governorship candidates. For instance, the Social Democratic party, SDP, candidate in Kogi, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, was almost assassinated about four months ago by armed men in Lokoja, the state capital.

In Imo, there was a gory feast on September 19 (last month) when gunmen laid siege on a joint security team of soldiers, police, and civil defence corps personnel at the sleepy Umualumaku community, in Ehime-Mbano council area, and burnt them to ashes in their patrol vehicles.

A separatist group calling itself ‘Biafran Revolution Army’ claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened more violence to ensure no election holds in the state or any other part of what it called “Biafra land” on November 11.

For the security agencies saddled with the job of policing next week’s elections, their work is already cut out for them. They must ensure that the polls are credible and political thugs don’t prevent the electorate from exercising their franchise.

It is heartwarming that the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, has warned those planning to disrupt the November 11 elections to have a rethink. Musa issued the warning recently after an Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting, in Abuja.

He assured residents of the three states not to entertain any fear, adding that the armed forces would provide full support to the police to ensure that the elections are free and fair.

“The Armed Forces, the police and other security agencies would be on ground. Every Nigerian, we are sure is tired of elections with violence. We want at the end of the day, every Nigerian should be proud of, first to be a Nigerian and to understand that elections are now free and fair.

“We want everybody who wins our elections to be happy that he won very well without any intimidation,’’ he said. The Defence Chief said that a serious warning had already been given to security personnel to be deployed for the elections that whoever misbehave during the elections would face the consequence.

Musa cautioned security agencies in the three states to not care about anybody, but only those with plans to disrupt the election. Also speaking, the Inspector General Of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said there would be no room for those planning to perpetrate trouble or violence in the states to operate.

“We are aware of the evil plots of supporters of some candidates and we are already monitoring them. We are ready for them in these elections. I also appeal to the electorate to come out en masse to cast their votes. We are committed to conducting a peaceful election and no going back.

“We have carried out threat assessments that will guide us in respect to the allocation of our resources and the deployment of our men. All the security agencies are collaborating strongly to ensure that these elections are violence free. Accredited journalists for the election would be protected in the cause of carrying out their duties,’’ Egbetokun said.

While Nigerians and the electorate in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi will bank their faith in the assurances of both the Nigerian military and Police, INEC must be told not to bungle this rare privilege it has to redeem itself. The 2023 general elections were not entirely a charade, but the exercise was ‘unimpressive’. The aftermath of elections harvested 1,196 petitions.

Our apex electoral body contributed greatly to making the February and March elections shambolic. This time around, INEC should see the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi polls as an acid test, in its commitment to nurturing a credible electoral process. It is not too late for the Commission to retract any promise it has made to Nigerians about conducting a transparent exercise, but which it knows is absolutely a tall order and impossible to fulfill.

Unlike the general elections, INEC should not attempt to change the rules in the middle of the game, thereby giving any of the candidates and their political parties an unfair advantage. Our military, police and other security agencies should also take note. Their personnel deployed for the elections should eschew becoming partisan prior, during and after the exercise, ahead of results’ declaration.

Indeed, INEC, our security agencies and every other stakeholder involved in the planning and conduct of the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi gubers should resolve to act right, and accordingly. All eyes are on them at the moment. They should aim to succeed as they execute the looming national assignment. But they cannot afford to fail, nevertheless.

*Mahmud is the Deputy Editor of PRNigeria,