President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to tackle the prevailing challenge of insecurity in the country in order to ensure the conduct of free, safe and secured general elections in 2023.
The President, in a national live broadcast commemorating the nation’s Democracy Day today, also assured Nigerians that voters’ right of choice at the polls would be protected and preserved This came as he tasked all candidates contesting elections to shun divisive and uncouth language and embrace issue-based campaigns.
The President, who noted that this would be his last Democracy Day speech to Nigerians, charged politicians to ensure that the transition was done in a peaceful manner in honour of the memory of Chief M.K.O. Abiola, whose Presidential mandate was annulled by the military some 29 years ago. The President expressed the hope that the 2023 polls would be peaceful, considering the positive signs he observed during the primaries conducted across party lines ahead of the 2023 general elections.
He said: “These primaries were peaceful and orderly. Those who won were magnanimous in their victories. Those who lost were gracious in defeat. And those aggrieved opted to seek judicial justice as opposed to jungle justice. “I followed the party primaries closely from the state level to the Presidential level. I was very impressed to see across all the political parties that, most candidates ran issued based campaigns. The language and tone throughout were on the whole measured and controlled.”
Buhari also noted that the 2022 primaries conducted by parties were significant because of the significant increase in women and youths, adding that the trends clearly showed the level of maturity the nation’s democracy achieved in the last 23 years. “As we move into the general election campaign season, we must sustain this mature attitude to campaigning and ultimately, voting.
We must never see it as a “do or die” affair. We must all remember democracy is about the will of the majority. There must be winners and losers.” On his promise to tackle insecurity, he said: “I know many of us are concerned with the rise in insecurity due to terrorist activities in parts of the country.
As a government, we are working hard to contain and address these challenges. And ensure that the 2023 general elections are safe and secure for all Nigerians. “To achieve this however, we must all contribute. It is not the job of government alone. I ask all citizens to support and cooperate with our security agencies by reporting any suspicious characters and activities to law enforcement agencies. We can only have a safe country if we are able to prevent crime not after the crime has been committed.”
He used the occasion to call on Nigerians to put all victims of terrorist activities in their thoughts and prayers saying that he lived daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping. He, however, stressed that the security agencies and himself were doing all they could to free those unfortunate countrymen and countrywomen safely.
Commenting on the reformation embarked upon by his government, he said: “We have reformed some of our security structures. Some of the defence assets we procured three years ago have arrived and have been deployed.
“Our cyber security and surveillance systems are being upgraded to further enhance our ability to track and trace criminal elements. We are also recruiting and training new personnel across all our security and intelligence agencies to strengthen the country’s over-all security.”
