The Chief of Defence Staff, General Leo Irabor, declared on Monday that the general election as scheduled would unfailingly hold in all other parts of Nigeria including the South East states.
The general elections have been scheduled for on February 25 and March 11, 2023, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The CDS warned that no individual or group would be allowed to disenfranchise Nigerians from voting for candidates of their choice.
The CDS, who spoke at the presentation of the scorecard of the Ministry of Defence under the Muhammadu Buhari administration in Abuja from 2015 till date, was responding to threats by some elements within the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its military arm, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) that election would not hold on those dates.
But Irabor warned sternly that the armed forces of Nigeria were ready to ensure that all Nigerian citizens go out and vote for candidates of their choice without any form of molestation or hindrance.
Irabor said, “An operation is being conducted in the South East and it is geared towards bringing some sanity to bear in the entire South East and to ensure that the citizens have the confidence to go out and exercise their franchise on the 25th of February and the 11th of March 2023.
“So, be rest assured and I would like to enjoin you journalists to spread the message that elections will hold in all parts of Nigeria and especially in the South East. The armed forces of Nigeria are working in concert with the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to ensure that the menace of criminality from IPoB/ESN is eliminated,” the CDS declared.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Defence, Maj-Gen. Bashir Salihi Magashi (rtd), has insisted that the armed forces of Nigeria had driven out the Boko Haram terrorists from all the local government areas in the North East where they used to hold territory and that no part of the country was under the control of any terrorist group.
Magashi while presenting the achievements of the defence ministry in Abuja, boasted that no part of Nigeria was under the control of any criminal organization.
The minister said, “As far as we are concerned no part of this country is held by any Boko Haram or ISWAP.”
Explaining the position further, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt-Gen Irabor said that although the military had driven out the terrorists from all the occupied local government areas in the North East, some of the terrorists were still making frantic efforts to return to those areas but facing resistance from the military.
The CDS explained: “Whereas no territory is under the control of any of those criminal elements, operations must continue because there are a few stragglers among them. The final cleansing is ongoing to clear the remnants of terrorists in the northeast or any part of Nigeria. There is no territory of Nigeria let alone the North East that is under the control of any of those criminal elements. But that does not imply that they are not still making attempts to ensure that their last vestiges remain, which of course, we are holding onto to ensure that they don’t exist.”
The CDS also said that the military would give the necessary support to the Safe School Initiative which is being coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Finance and driven by the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to ensure the safety of schools across the country.