The presidential candidate of the Action Alliance (AA), Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha (rtd), has said that the 2023 general elections, is facing “numerous threats”, especially in the area of insecurity.

The former Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha, identified some of the threats as arm proliferation, hard drugs as well as oil theft.

Charging the military and other security agencies to wake up to their responsibilities in order to provide a secure atmosphere for peaceful, credible and violence-free polls, the former CSO said such was the only solution.

Speaking in his capacity as a guest speaker at the Platinum Post annual roundtable with the theme: “Contemporary security challenges and their effects on the 2023 general elections”, Al-Mustapha claimed that: “For 23 years in a country, we have not sat down to look at changing our doctrine from military to civil, in terms of peace education, peace maintenance.”

He continued that, “And then there are also the 3907 assorted arms lost in 1999. Now, just imagine on your own the numerous occurrences that happen: the number of police stations attacked, the number of banks attacked, the number of police killed and their arms taken away, the number of arms imported, the number of arms imported by politicians to rig the 2019 elections.”

Also speaking, Benue State Governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, appealed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to create poll units at Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps, with a view to safeguarding their right to vote.

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