The Chairman of the Board of Transition Monitoring Committee, Auwal Rafsanjani has come out to declare that he is yet to see adequate response from security agencies that the 2023 general election would be hitch-free.
According to him, security agencies in the country can continue to make promises, but the people would be the judge of the insecurity ravaging the country based on what is seen on the ground.
Naija News gathered that Rafsanjani told Punch that the police and the army only see the leaders as the people they should protect and not necessarily the citizens and that is why many security breaches have been recorded in the country.
He queried that if the level of political intolerance and security breach were seen by some politicians and some political parties at the moment and the security agencies haven’t stopped it, how then “are we sure that there will not be such security breach during the general elections?”
His reaction was against the backdrop of recent attacks on political parties and their supporters, which has become the order of the day despite warnings from the security agencies in the country.
He submitted that “It is good if the security agencies assure Nigerians that the election will be hitch-free and without violence. That is what we want. But for now, we have not seen adequate response from the security agencies towards tackling the issue of attacks by thugs hired by one political party on supporters of another political party. That is why we can’t take such a thing for granted.”
Rafsanjani maintained that critics want to see more protection of Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliation.
He advanced that “Where were the security agencies when political party members were attacked? In some instances, their supporters were killed. Security agencies can continue to make promises, but we will judge them based on what we have seen on the ground. If the level of political intolerance and security breach were seen by some politicians and some political parties and the security agencies did not stop it, then how are we sure that there will not be such security breaches during the general elections? As conscious people, we always want to be prepared and demand that our country should be ready for any eventuality.
“We want to see more protection of Nigerians irrespective of their political affiliation. If you assume that the security agencies will protect the citizens, then you may be deceiving yourself. We as citizens must demand that our security agencies do the needful by carrying out their duties as enshrined in the constitution.
“The police and the army only see the leaders as the people they should protect and not necessarily the citizens and that is why many security breaches have been recorded in the country. In order to make a departure from what the practice used to be, they should see themselves first as security agencies that are responsible and responsive by ensuring that every citizen of this country is given the necessary protection and is given the necessary support to ensure nobody harms him or her and not just only the leaders.”
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