The Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN) has asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to hold the upcoming general elections on a single day, citing the risk of violence if the polls are held in stages.
According to the Council, violence may erupt following the first elections on February 25th, due to the desperation of some politicians who are already preparing to cause a crisis in order to halt the elections, despite the fact that they know they will lose the contests.
Addressing a news conference in Kaduna on Sunday, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Shari’a in Nigeria, Nafi’u Baba-Ahmed, says that the security agencies are already overstretched and therefore, may not be able to contend with the looming political crisis.
“The first election is the presidential and National Assembly elections. We fear that, in light of the precarious security situation in the country and the fact that security agencies have admitted they are overstretched, it is quite possible, in fact, highly probable, that some desperate politicians who might lose the election will trigger political violence to the extent that the subsequent elections may not hold.
“In light of this, we engage all those that matter. We met with some of the key security chiefs, who expressed their understanding of the situation and agreed with us that their manpower is already overstretched. And it is going to be an uphill task to cope with political violence,” he said during the press briefing.
“We, therefore, advise that INEC should be prevailed upon to hold all the elections on the same day. This way, we will avoid a situation where some desperate politicians that are about to lose cannot create chaos in the country such that we will be left with elections half-held and half-on-hold.”