The Federal Government has said it will not allow any separatist group to disrupt the forthcoming November 6 governorship election in Anambra State.
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen. Babagana Monguno (Retd) said this at the third quarterly meeting of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja on Thursday.
His warning comes against the backdrop of some of the recent activities of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the Southeast part of the country.
Daily Trust reports that in May, unidentified hoodlums carried out series of attacks on government facilities, including setting ablaze the headquarters of INEC in Anambra State.
While the police accused members of IPOB of being responsible for the attacks, the group denied such allegation.
Mungono, represented by Sanusi Galadima, warned that government would not tolerate any group or persons to disrupt the poll.
“With the prevalence of security threats occasioned by different dissident separatist groups in the Southern region of the country, who are bent on scuttling efforts of government in achieving national cohesion and undermining the democratic processes in the country, the Federal Government of Nigeria will not tolerate any group or persons planning to impede smooth conduct of elections.
“While acknowledging the constitutional rights of citizens to freely express their legitimate grievances within the ambits of the law, it is also important to state that the Federal government will not abdicate its constitutional responsibility of securing lives and property as well as secure environment for citizens to pursue their legitimate means of livelihood,” he said.
He, therefore, assured of robust security deployments to countering any threats and ensuring peaceful conduct of the elections.
Speaking earlier, the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission had made arrangement to replace materials that were lost during the attack on its office in Akwa.
According to him, plans were also underway to rebuild the physical facilities which, he said would be completed before the election.
“As you are aware, our office in Awka was attacked resulting in extensive damage to the building and the destruction of critical facilities for the election including ballot boxes, voting cubicles, vehicles, power generators and several non-sensitive materials for the election. I am glad to report that we have made arrangement to replace all lost movable materials.
“Similarly, we are making efforts to rebuild the physical facilities which will be completed before the election,” Yakubu said.
