A coalition of over 80 human rights organisations under the aegis of Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja on Thursday raised fears over likely violence in the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections with a call on security agencies to act quickly especially in some flashpoints.
The organisation which identified Lagos, Rivers, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Kano states as flashpoints said it would deploy 2,340 election observers, including 131 Persons Living with Disabilities, with at least three election observers in each of the 774 local government areas, excluding the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Convener of the NCSSR, Ene Obi, stated these while reading a preliminary statement on the pre-election environment ahead of the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections.
The event was also attended by co-conveners, Asma’u Joda and James Ugochukwu and Executive Director of Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre who was also a former Convener of NCSSR, Clement Nwankwo.
Situation Room said it expected that INEC had taken lessons from the challenges experienced during the Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25 2023, and “made adequate arrangements to forestall the recurrence of the gaps observed during the elections.”