Insecurity: Ex-defence minister Batagarawa, others insist elections must hold

*Tackles Buhari on submission deadline for old naira notes

*As US calls for polls that reflects will of Nigerians

Former minister of defenses, Lawal Batagarawa, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that insecurity threatening the forthcoming general election is lowered to allow Nigerians go to the polls to vote candidates of their choice.

He made the call at the 20th annual Daily Trust Dialogue yesterday in Abuja.

According to him, “The cashless society policy being pushed by the Central Bank of Nigeria is a huge challenge threatening peaceful elections because if people are concerned about changing their money within a short timeframe and are also expecting to come out for elections, it could result in poor elections turnout.

Batagarawa who urged President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the matter said that it will be unwise for the CBN to insist on the deadline without considering the consequence to the economy and the security of the nation as well as impacting negatively on the elections.

He urge Buhari to “stop the arrangement of the CBN governor for pushing forth the policy” that is capable of truncating the elections.

He further appealed to the president to do all that is possible to avert any difficulty the policy could push Nigerians into saying, “We are not taking into effect the consequences of our policies. We appeal to the president to ensure that whatever happens, the election takes place.

He adds that elections must hold in Nigeria and government must do all it can to improve the electoral environment lower the level of insecurity, improve electoral security and allow Nigerians to vote.

Lending his voice to the discussion, one-time secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said that the way that things are progressing in Nigeria, especially the level of election insecurity, the elections could be at risk.

Baba-Ahmed pointed that “It will be a huge tragedy for Nigeria if the forthcoming elections fail to hold. Therefore the Independent National Electoral Commission and the federal government must ensure that the elections take place.

“The way things are, it is no more conspiracy theory. Nigeria must have an election 285t 0t march this year. It is not a favour to Nigerians, we should insist on it and the only to have that election is that we must lower the level of insecurity, improve the electoral environment in such a way that INEC can actually deploy personnel and equipment and allow Nigerians to vote,” he said.

Meanwhile, the United States, (US), ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, was also at the event, and said that the US will continue to support transparent and credible elections that reflects the will of the Nigerian people in a process that is conducted peacefully.

Leonard reiterated that “elections are the foundation of democracy and the basis for the legitimate transfer of power. I think it is valuable for us all to reflect on the fact that since 1999, Nigerian voters have successfully exercised their democratic powers six times to determine the country’s next leaders.”