The Chairman of The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, will today hold a meeting with a team from the Office of the National Security Adviser, the military and para-military organisations to discuss security challenges for the general elections.
A top source in INEC, who was speaking with Leadership correspondent, said:
“We are holding an Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) session to update ourselves on the state of the nation’s security and the electoral commission’s preparedness.
“This is the first meeting we are having since the polls shift due to security reasons. All the parties will lay the cards on the table and consider what still ought to be done.”
According to another source, the members of the meeting want to know the status of the security in the Northeast and how far the security challenges in the area have been addressed.
“All the National Commissioners of INEC are also expected to be in attendance. This explains why this session is called in the early part of the second week of the six-week window for the postponement of the elections,” he said.
INEC source added that they would also brief the session on the number of Permanent Voters Cards collected, the training of 600,000 ad hoc staff on the use of Card Readers. They also expect to get the feedback from the monitoring of preparations for the elections in all the six geo-political zones.
Commenting on the indications that INEC might restrict the military and Mobile Police to fringe posts during the general elections, a National Commissioner said:
“Military men have no role in the conduct of the elections; they are only expected to stay at designated checkpoints to make sure people do not traffic arms, ammunition or anything that could tamper with the electoral process.
“They also stay at these checkpoints in readiness for rapid deployment, if there is any security challenge during the elections. No soldiers will be at the Polling Units, Collation Centres or have any direct contact with the conduct of the elections. Even the Mobile Police will only engage in fringe patrols without coming to the Polling Units. This is our position.”
Meanwhile, INEC recently assured that everything is prepared for the upcoming elections, confirming the procurement of about 20,000 backup card readers, in addition to 152,000 active card readers and 35,000 backup batteries.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/389802-inec-and-nsa-team-meet-today-on-security-issues.html
A top source in INEC, who was speaking with Leadership correspondent, said:
“We are holding an Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) session to update ourselves on the state of the nation’s security and the electoral commission’s preparedness.
“This is the first meeting we are having since the polls shift due to security reasons. All the parties will lay the cards on the table and consider what still ought to be done.”
According to another source, the members of the meeting want to know the status of the security in the Northeast and how far the security challenges in the area have been addressed.
“All the National Commissioners of INEC are also expected to be in attendance. This explains why this session is called in the early part of the second week of the six-week window for the postponement of the elections,” he said.
INEC source added that they would also brief the session on the number of Permanent Voters Cards collected, the training of 600,000 ad hoc staff on the use of Card Readers. They also expect to get the feedback from the monitoring of preparations for the elections in all the six geo-political zones.
Commenting on the indications that INEC might restrict the military and Mobile Police to fringe posts during the general elections, a National Commissioner said:
“Military men have no role in the conduct of the elections; they are only expected to stay at designated checkpoints to make sure people do not traffic arms, ammunition or anything that could tamper with the electoral process.
“They also stay at these checkpoints in readiness for rapid deployment, if there is any security challenge during the elections. No soldiers will be at the Polling Units, Collation Centres or have any direct contact with the conduct of the elections. Even the Mobile Police will only engage in fringe patrols without coming to the Polling Units. This is our position.”
Meanwhile, INEC recently assured that everything is prepared for the upcoming elections, confirming the procurement of about 20,000 backup card readers, in addition to 152,000 active card readers and 35,000 backup batteries.
READ MORE: http://www.naij.com/389802-inec-and-nsa-team-meet-today-on-security-issues.html
No comments:
Post a Comment