KUNLE OLUTAYO
The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Attacks on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices and facilities in the country, has vowed to reveal hoodlums behind the unfortunate attacks ahead of the 2023 general elections.
The electoral umpire had witnessed unprecedented attacks on its installations in the country, especially in the southern part of the country.
Chairman of the Committee, House Ad-hoc Committee, Rep Taiwo Oluga, in his presentation at the investigative hearing in Abuja on Friday, at the National Assembly, stated that the parliament is working to stop these attacks and unravel those behind these crimes.
She also said the House, in a resolution after a motion, moved and adopted on the matter by a Lawmakers had mandated the probe panel to investigate the orgy of violent attacks on INEC offices and facilities and report back to the House within three weeks.
Speaker, House of Representatives, Rep Femi Gbajabiamila, who declared the investigation open, said the House is disturbed at these incessant attacks on the INEC facilities because it poses a threat to democratic governance.
He stressed that in the last two months a total of seven offices of the nation’s electoral umpire in many states of the country, calling on the Ad-hoc Committee to do a diligent investigation into the brains behind these assaults on the nation’s assets and come up with a report on ways to forestall the act.
In his presentation, INEC Chairman, Prof Mahmud Yakubu said since 2019, over 40 offices of the nation’s electoral management body had come under series of attacks by unidentified hoodlums.
“These attacks will have far reaching effects on the smooth conduct of the general election in 2023,” he said.
In a document presented to lawmakers on these attacks, Prof Yakub said: “South-East states of Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi are the highest in the frequency, while the Boko Harm invaded Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states in the North-East has recorded only one attack on INEC facilities.”
He charged security agencies to work assiduously towards halting these unwarranted attacks on INEC facilities, lamenting that many electoral materials had been damaged in the process.
A member of the Committee, Rep Halims Ibrahim (APC, Kogi), urged Heads of security agencies to arrest politicians, if found out, sponsoring violence attacks on opponents and INEC offices.
While contributing, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, represented by Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, DIG Dan- Daura Mustapha, said most of these attacks are sponsored by political office holders, including state governors.
He said: “The Police Force, as lead internal security agency had arrested many gunmen behind these attacks but most times, governors intervene to ensure they are released.”
The Committee Chairman, Oluga, while assuring invited stakeholders of diligence in investigation into these attacks, said, “it’s a threat to the nation’s democracy.”
