Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau, a former Chief of Army staff, has said activities of bandits in the north, and members of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) constitute a major threat to the 2023 general elections.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Dambazau spoke at the Blueprint Newspapers’ annual lecture in Abuja on Tuesday.
The retired Army general questioned: “Would insecurity affect the 2023 elections?” before responding that,
“Surely it would, because some of the community would still be displaced and the terrorists would likely continue attacks on soft targets.
“INEC officials and ad-hoc staff would be highly apprehensive despite the assurance by the government to protect them. Access to polling units in border communities may pose some difficulties. This is one more reason why adequate security must be provided.”
Nigeria is struggling with security problems across its vast territory, including banditry activities by criminal gangs, insurgency in the northeast and southeast, and a spate of mass school abductions in the northwest.
