Insecurity: Collaborative Efforts With Neighboring States Effective – Bello

Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has praised the effectiveness of collaborative efforts with neighboring states to combat insecurity in the North Central states.

He stated this at the first expanded security meeting in 2022, which brought together all 17 graded chiefs in the territory to review the year 2021 and look ahead to 2022.

“And this is one aspect that we will continue to improve on,” he says, “because that is where all the security agencies within the FCT and their counterparts in neighboring states that make up the G7 states: the FCT, Benue, Kaduna, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Plateau.”
“Overall, we appreciated all of the agencies’ efforts, and despite what happened here and there in rural communities, we are pleased with the efforts.”

“And we identified areas where we will provide them with additional assistance, and we intend to do so,” Bello said.

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In other news, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that 593 polling units in the FCT have no registered voters, 1,328 polling units have between 0 and 50 registered voters, and 546 polling units have over 1,000 registered voters.

Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Chairman of INEC, made the announcement at the Federal Capital Territory Administration’s Expanded Stakeholders Security Meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, invited the INEC boss to the meeting so that he could brief FCT stakeholders on preparations for the Area Councils Election on February 12.
Yakubu stated that the commission had already informed political parties, civil society organizations, the media, and national security agencies of the development.

He stated that INEC had decided that no election would be held in polling units without the presence of registered voters.

He went on to say that no materials had been produced for those units, and that no personnel would be sent to them.

However, Yakubu stated that voting would take place in all other polling units, noting that INEC would deploy more than one BVAS in congested polling units to expedite voter accreditation.

He also stated that INE would send more personnel to those locations, and that the commission had agreed with security agencies to send more personnel to maintain peace and order.

According to him, the commission is providing hard copies of the details locations of these polling units to all stakeholders at this meeting in order to ensure transparency.

“Soft copies of the documents have also been uploaded to our website.” We hope to accomplish two goals by doing so.

“The first step is to make sure that voters in the FCT, and indeed all Nigerians, are aware of these polling units and the arrangements that have been made for them on election day.

“Second, to enlist the help of all stakeholders to ensure that these polling units are filled in time for the general election in 2023.”

“In this regard, we need the support of traditional, community, and religious leaders in particular,” the INEC chairman said.

Yakubu, who emphasized the importance of peace for the success of the area council elections, assured that INEC would safeguard the process’ integrity.

“We are keeping a close eye on all of our officials, whether they are adhoc or regular employees, to ensure that they follow the rules to the letter. All political parties, candidates, and supporters should follow suit.”