5 Threats to the Upcoming Presidential Election 

The 2023 presidential election is barely per week away, the seventh consecutive election since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. 

The election, which is able to convey a couple of change of presidency, from what has been obtainable within the nation for the previous eight years has made the nation a spectrum in 2023. It’s because the world is watching to see how the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari would maintain to his re-echoed promise of a free and truthful election.

Because the nation mops up plans to make sure the electoral course of is void of encumbrances, it behoves us to highlight the threats that face residents forward of the elections. 

Insecurity 

Nigerians face a really excessive degree of safety threats forward of the 2023 election. Just about each a part of the nation has been affected.  From banditry, terrorist actions, herder-farmer conflicts, and secessionist agitations to conflicts generated from land and grazing rights, the nation has been closely impacted by insecurity.

Lately, the Unbiased Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC) introduced that elections won’t be held in 240 polling items as a result of voters weren’t keen to go to these polling items as a result of insecurity. This doesn’t solely threaten the conduct of the polls, it additionally threatens the credibility of the polls.

Whereas residents wrestle with the considered who will assure their security, the onus rests on safety brokers to come up and decisively act to make sure that the election is carried out in a peaceable environment.

Shortage of the naira notes 

One other potential menace is the shortage of money attributable to the naira redesign coverage launched by the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN). Many Nigerians are struggling to withdraw money from Automated Teller Machines and inside banking halls. This wrestle has plunged the nation into untold hardship, as most of them can’t have entry to cash for every day sustenance. Moreover, INEC had earlier mentioned that the CBN cashless coverage could hamper the power of the fee to conduct the elections. 

Complaining that the brand new naira notes haven’t been made accessible to them, Resident Electoral Commissioner for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Alhaji Yahaya Bello mentioned they want money to coordinate safety and logistics. He mentioned that if nothing was finished to deal with the money crunch attributable to the insurance policies, INEC within the FCT and throughout the nation would discover it tough to deploy employees and supplies for the election as many of the providers required money to acquire.

Vote shopping for 

Whereas it’s true that the naira redesign was launched to scale back corruption and limit the move of cash throughout the upcoming elections, we should additionally perceive that politicians will nonetheless get entangled in vote shopping for within the 2023 presidential elections. If you’ll recall the occasion primaries of the APC and PDP in 2022 created one of many worst international trade crises because the demand for US {dollars} overshot provide. If these politicians didn’t use a lot of the naira throughout the primaries, what makes us consider they gained’t return to what was used up to now? 

Additionally, the Centre for Democracy and Improvement famous that throughout the off-cycle gubernatorial elections in Osun and Ekiti, candidates boasted about matching greenback for greenback and Naira for Naira to potential voters with a vote buying and selling for as a lot as N20,000 (roughly $47).” 

Snatching and Destruction of Election supplies

This has turn into a pattern in each election cycle in Nigeria. This was recognized by INEC as one of many potential threats to the upcoming presidential election. Election supplies have been snatched and burnt in 2011, 2015, and 2019 elections, what plans has the electoral umpire put in place to make sure that this pattern doesn’t occur once more? Nigerians have been charged to come back out to vote in mass, however the query stays, how safe will their votes be?

Misinformation

Misinformation is a giant menace to Nigeria’s democracy and the upcoming presidential election. It’s because info dysfunction has a big capability to mislead the electorates. The quantity of misinformation accessible on social media is without doubt one of the the reason why some electorates don’t know to who to entrust their votes.

A latest report by the Centre for Democracy and Improvement (CDD) warns that info dysfunction, if not tamed, may mar the approaching election. The centre, which urged all voters, social media, citizen journalists, and mainstream media executives to all the time fact-check info earlier than sharing, famous that curbing faux information will assist us reap the dividends of continued democracy.

As we head to the polls, residents and politicians alike should word that elections are an train of their civic proper not an avenue for violence. 

NEXT:5 Ways CBN’s Naira Redesign Policy Will Affect 2023 Election