Leaders must address marginalisation concerns to foster patriotism –Lawan

By Musa Baba Adamu

Insecurity, census won’t hinder conduct of 2023 elections – Senate

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Senate on Wednesday, assured the Nigerians that the current insecurity in the country and the headcount being planned by the National Population Commission, would not affect the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

Chairman, Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Senator Kabiru Gaya, gave the assurance in Abuja.

He spoke with journalists after he defended his Committee’s budget report before the Committee on the Appropriation

The Chairman of the Appropriation panel, Senator Barau Jibrin, during the session, said Gaya’s committee did a meticulous job.

Gaya, a former governor of Kano State said his committee had series of engagements with INEC management.

The INEC, according to him, had presented evidence from various security agencies that the insecurity situation would not disrupt the polls.

He said “The general elections will hold in 2023. There is a full assurance that elections would be held in over 95 per cent of the country. There are strategies already to secure areas that are prone to attacks during the election.

“Additional security measures would be put in place to make sure that the polls are free of disruptions.”

Gaya also said that the forthcoming census being planned by the National Population Commission, would not affect the conduct of the election as the two agencies responsible for both the headcount and the polls could also work together.

He said, ” Both the NPC and the INEC could even work together in such a way that there would not be interference. It doesn’t matter if the two exercises are close. They will not be held on the same day.”

The Chairman said the additional requests demanded by the INEC concerning the 2023 general elections would be considered by the National Assembly but he did not give details of the amount being sought by the electoral umpire.