“We do not want to hear tomorrow that some INEC staff have been kidnapped,” said Jide Ojo, Executive Director of OJA Consult, following the governorship elections held on November 11 in Imo State, Bayelsa State, and Kogi State. In response to the frequency of kidnappings and deaths of INEC staff during elections, he issued this declaration.
In a video posted by AIT, Jide Ojo said, “The National Security Adviser and the Inspector General of Police have promised Nigerians that they will ensure that these elections will be credible. I hope they can keep their promise”.
According to him, “How prepared are the security agencies to give us proper policing, proper defense, and proper security of the electoral process? We do not want to hear tomorrow that some INEC staff have been kidnapped, and we do not want to hear that some INEC officials have been injured or killed like we’ve had even during the last general elections. So the National Security Adviser, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, promised that this election is going to be a test case for them and that they are going to ensure that this election is going to be credible. I’m holding him to his words. Beyond that, we’ve also heard the Inspector General of Police assuring the public that they are not going to be partisan, and I hope that they will actually live up to that commitment. I hope that the DSS, the Civil Defense, and all the other security agencies that will be deployed from this evening through Sunda will be impartial and non-partisan”.
