ELECTIONS MUST HOLD IN 2019 ~Buhari
….says no plan for third term

Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari says the 2023 elections would hold, despite the security challenges facing the country, particularly the burning down of facilities of the Independent Electoral Commissioner, INEC.

Buhari spoke shortly after being briefed by the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu on the dangers posed to future elections by the burning of INEC facilities.

President Buhari said he would give the electoral commission all it needs to operate, “so that no one would say we don’t want to go or that we want a third term.

“There will be no excuse for failure. We’ll meet all INEC’s demands.”

Earlier in his briefing, Prof Mahmood Yakubu said that so far, there have been 42 cases of attacks on INEC offices nationwide, since the last general elections.

“The 42 incidents so far occurred in 14 states of the Federation for a variety of reasons.

“Most of the attacks happened in the last seven months and they are unrelated to protest against previous elections. From the pattern and frequency of the most recent attacks, they appear to be targeted at future elections.

“The intention is to incapacitate the Commission, undermine the nation’s democracy and precipitate a national crisis”.