The National Security Adviser, Maj Gen Babagana Monguno (retd) has cautioned those planning any form of violence or disturbance during Saturday’s governorship and state assembly elections to have a rethink.
He said that no individual or group would be allowed to undermine the forthcoming elections because it is in the national interest.
This was made known on Tuesday in Abuja at a meeting of the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security held at the national headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Monguno said no stone will be left unturned in ensuring a credible and peaceful poll, noting that Saturday’s election would be more complicated as it would involve more polling units and collation centres.
He said: “First of all, we are going to have 1,021 constituencies. Meaning, we are going to have more people interested, more people voting, more collation centres and, obviously, the dynamics will be much more different than the elections that we have just concluded.”
He added: “So far so good, we do not envisage anything that is going to be terrible or apocalyptic in terms of the next few days.
“But that does not mean that we should all do away with our state of readiness. We must comply with the rules. We must also allow everyone to exercise his fundamental rights as citizens of this country. What we do not want happening is for anybody to take the law into his or her own hands.”
“I want to be very clear in this, we are going to give maximum support to all entities involved in this process and we are also calling on the political bigwigs to call their lieutenants to order.
“Anybody who is itching to undermine this process should please think again. It is not in his own interest, it is not in the interest of the nation as well.”
The NSA assured that his office is prepared and ready to give INEC all the needed support to ensure a crisis-free election on Saturday.