On 25 February, Nigerians will cast their vote for their choice of president. Federal elections will hold while state elections will be held on 11 March. The United Nations(UN) office in Nigeria has outlined a number of concerns in the build-up to Nigeria’s general elections.
Matthias Schmale, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria shared the global body’s concerns in an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES. In his words,
“we are concerned about elections being postponed due to violence”.
Mr Schmale pointed out that it is not just violence in the Northeast. It is also in the South-East and other places in the North-West. He said the violence could negatively affect the running of and the outcome of the elections.
In recent times there have been routine attacks on security officials. As well as officials and offices of the electoral commission, INEC, in the Southern part of Nigeria.
In the North-West and some parts of the North-Central, terrorists locally called bandits, continue their attack on locals in rural communities, displacing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, though degraded, has also not been totally eliminated.
UN is concerned about the hate speech, the perennial fuel crisis in the country and the recent cash crunch across Nigeria.
