Against the rising insecurity, political and religious tensions across the country, the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum (AYCF) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to consider urging political parties to stagger their primaries.<\/p>\n
The national president of the forum, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, in a statement\u00a0 titled \u2018State of the Nation and forthcoming primary elections\u2019, said the call has become expedient in view of the growing religious tensions and insecurity across the nation.<\/p>\n
AYCF also called on the Directorate of Security Services (DSS) to guide the INEC on the best possible way of going about the party primaries to forestall all forms of breakdown of law and order.<\/p>\n
According to Shettima, \u201cAfter due consultation with the AYCF executives and members, as well as other relevant stakeholders, we wish to observe that holding party primaries across many States of the Fedreration ( North and South) at the moment may not be feasible because of the growing tensions everywhere.<\/p>\n
” There is the planned nationwide students\u2019 protests in solidarity with ASUU and media reports suggesting that the Christian Association of Nigeria(CAN) has directed all the state chapters of the religious body to embark on nationwide street protests over the death of a female student accused of blasphemy in Sokoto State, which resulted in the imposition of a 24-hour curfew in the State.<\/p>\n
” The massive killing of non-indigene traders by unknown gunmen in the Southeast and attack of government facilities have not abated and the increasing incidence of cultists clashes that leave many innocent souls dead and politically-motivated violence have not been successfully reduced to the barest minimum yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges of kidnapping, banditry and insurgency, gun-running and a flourishing illicit drug business are worsening by the day\u201d.<\/p>\n
In view of the above observations, AYCF said, \u201cWe urge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to reconsider the announced date, or at best, stagger the primaries based on security and intelligence information from the various states, especially in well-known flashpoints of violence and arson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urge the security and intelligence service to guide INEC on the safest places to conduct primaries without endangering the lives of innocent voters.<\/p>\n
” Most importantly, life is so valuable that we cannot afford to sacrifice it on the grounds of discharging our civic duties. Ordinarily, only people who are alive can vote and voted for\u201d.<\/p>\n
AYCF said it made the suggestions in the interest of safe and peaceful conduct of the primaries across Nigeria, as the country hopefully prepares for successful 2023 general elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Against the rising insecurity, political and religious tensions across the country, the Arewa Consultative Youth Forum (AYCF) has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to consider urging political…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n