By Bukola Olasanmi
The Federal Government has said that criminals cannot halt the scheduled 2023 general elections despite the incessant attacks on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) facilities.
The government also said the activities of criminals would not deter it from ensuring the conduct of free and fair polls.
Police Affairs Minister, Muhammad Dingyadi, who disclosed this on Thursday, assured Nigerians that no matter the level of attacks on INEC facilities and other criminal activities, elections would be conducted next year in all parts of the country.
Dingyadi spoke at the 15the Edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard series (2015-2023).
INEC also raised the alarm over what it called systematic and targeted attacks on its facilities nationwide, ahead of the 2023 general election.
Dingyadi said: “This election is going to be conducted in all parts of the country. And we want to assure Nigerians that the election is going to be hitch-free. It is going to be fair and credible.
“What you see out there by these criminals will not stop us from conducting the election.”
The minister said the installation of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which was initiated by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, was still on course.
He noted that because the CCTV project is “a very huge and very expensive, President Buhari decided to make good use of the project so that we do not allow it to go down the drain and then continue to pay the loans that we have taken from China.”
“It is for that reason,” Dingyadi said, “the Federal Executive Council (FEC) decided to concession this project to a reputable contractor that can reactivate it for use of the police and other service providers and draw some revenue to the Federal Government and the police.”
According to him, the concessionaire is working progressively “and we believe it is time this project is put to use for Nigerians”.