President Muhammadu Buhari has given a marching order to the Nigerian Military to ensure everything necessary is done to make Anambra State peaceful and ready for the scheduled governorship election.
The President gave the instructions on Thursday after receiving briefings from the nation’s security chiefs and heads of security agencies at the presidential villa in Abuja.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno revealed Buhari told the service chiefs that the people of Anambra have the right to elect their leader and everything must be done to make the atmosphere conducive for elections to take place.
The President warned that despite the heightened security challenges, no group or individual must be allowed to sabotage the upcoming elections in Anambra State scheduled for November 6.
He said: “The President has directed that under no circumstances will anything be allowed to stop the elections from taking place successfully. The people have a right to vote and select their leader.
“No group or individual will be allowed to stimulate anarchy and chaos, leading to murderous activities.
“The President has made it very clear that the Armed Forces and all law enforcement agencies must make sure that the elections take place even if it means overwhelming the entire environment with the presence of security agencies.
“There are so many implications for elections to be sabotaged by non-state actors; in the first place, we are in a democracy, secondly it is important to note that if these non-state actors should succeed in destroying the potentials for orderly elections, then it is natural that other parts of the country would also want to copy this same situation.”
Similarly, the Minister of Police Affairs, Maigari Dingyadi, said the Police have received directives to ensure peace prevails in Anambra State.
He said the government remains committed to conducting a free, fair, and peaceful election in the state.
He said, “In particular, we talked about the Anambra governorship election coming on 6th of November and we want to assure the people of Anambra State and all Nigerians that the government is committed to conducting that election.
“The election has to be free and fair, we are going to put every machinery in place to ensure that people are well secured. That is the only way to ensure that we promote democracy and good governance in this country.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Military has killed the new leader of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), Mallam Bako.
He was killed two days ago as confirmed on Thursday in Abuja by the National Security Adviser, General Babagana Monguno (retd).
This article was originally published on Naija News