 And to seal the breakfast and plus, TV Africa were about to talk about INAK and elections just a few weeks to the 2023 General Elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission INAK has expressed apprehension about the effects, the insecurity in various parts of the country, including the attacks on its facilities may have on the Commission's preparation for the forthcoming elections. A Professor Abdulahi Zuru, Chairman of the Board of Electoral Institute, representing the Chairman of INAK at an election security training program, also warned that the growing spate of insecurity in many parts of the country may lead to cancellation or postponement of the 2023 General Elections. Although INAK's Chairman Professor Mahmoud Yacobu has reiterated the Commission's determination to go ahead with the elections as scheduled, speculations are rift that the Commission may have no option in the face of height and insecurity. Joining us right now to look at the issues, first INAK's preparation ahead of the Presidential and National Assembly elections is a public affairs analyst, Ambrose Igboke. Ambrose, it's good to have you join us. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me here. All right then. What are your thoughts now, looking at the concerns of Abdulahi Zuru and also juxtaposing that with that of the Empire's Chairman Mahmoud Yacobu? I don't know what is happening in INAK hierarchy. Last week also we had a National Commissioner for INAK that said that just reiterating what Professor Zuru has said, that because of his security, INAK may postpone the election or even cancel it. Professor Mahmoud Yacobu, the Chairman of INAK, came out to counter that last week and said the election should hold. Again, Professor Yacobu came off yesterday at Chatham House in London to state that the election was hold. There is the same thing as somebody from INAK hierarchy who represented even the chairman in a function is giving a conflicting assertion that an election may not hold. So it is becoming very worrisome that the hierarchy of INAK is speaking different languages and they are not in consonance with this particular issue. And I just hope that somebody is not taking also a right, that somebody is not trying to play on the intelligence of Nigerians, and that somebody is not planning something sinister by trying to hold records to postpone the election. This security in the land cannot and does not prevent INAK from holding these elections. And INAK must hold the elections because it is a constitutional thing. I hope that security has been going on in the country, just as we have it. And I know that constitutional things are taking place, there is a government in place. We got better and we are receiving allowances, there are sellers being paid, there are budgets being appropriated, budgets being spent, where the government is borrowing money. So everything, the banks are working, communities are, you know, largest, people are moving around. Therefore, everything that constitutes a normal social life or economic life is going on. I agree, and we are in agreement that there are security issues on parts of the country. But I want to reiterate here that in 2015 election, almost 17 local governments in this country, we had foreign flags hoisted on them by the terrorist group, Boko Haram. Yet, we had elections. We didn't see because whoopies, 17 local governments, as of the several dozen political governments, were turned as siege. We had elections. Therefore, and even the results were declared from such local governments. So anybody who is not saying because of this pockets of Mr. Kuida will not hold election, that person does not love Nigeria, that person is planning something mysterious for the country, and that person does not wish the country well. Therefore, the person is very unprotected. And I think some people are flying the kite, and Nigerians should rise up now and resist and pull down that kite that didn't float, because nobody can take Nigerians for a ride. The elections are scheduled to hold, and elections should hold according to the laid down rules and regulations and laws guiding our election, and so that by May 29, there can be successful handling of power as the elections take place. And anybody who is going to that country is wishing Nigeria evil. But what do you think that there are legal provision for postponement of cancellation of an election? Remember in the electoral outlaw, the constitution? There's no state of emergency. There's no state of emergency in Nigeria. But Nigeria, in the entire country, it's much shut down. Our aviation is working. Our telecoms are working. Our commerce and industries are working. So there's no state of emergency anyway. Why should we now, when it gets to election? People are trying to entrench some interest, and they're telling us that because of the medical council also, I don't agree with that, and many Nigerians don't agree with that. And Nigerians should rise up and stop this before it starts escalating. Well, but let's also still look at the issue of insecurity and the fact that a lot of persons have raised concern, which has also given rise to the thought of the case of considering cancellation of postponement of the election. What do you think about all of these attacks? We've seen several attacks, especially in the south-eastern part of Nigeria, where INEC offices have been attacked or police stations, however. Don't you think that this would have an impact on the elections in terms of voter turnout, in terms of voter apathy? What have you? I've just been one and the same thing, but those will be disenfranchised and other issues. Don't you think that this would have, you know, a major impact on the elections? When you're doing a comparative, when you're doing a holistic assessment of a situation, you look at it critically and try to see what percentage, when you do a risk analysis, you see what percentage of risk does it pose. All the things happening, the percentage of risk it poses, is not, you know, strong enough, an argument to postpone the elections. As I said earlier, there were more potential risks, a more mental risk in 2015, more than we have now. Yet, the federal government went ahead and they conducted an election. We had war in our hands. These are not even pockets of banditry or whatever. We have external aggression. We had it in 2015. We did some territories in the country. We actually captured our flags hoisted up to 17 local government areas of the country. But elections helped. So whatever pockets of violence, insecurity we are having right now, cannot be compared to the kind of situation we had in 2015. The situation we were in in 2015 was even far worse than we have now. Yet, elections helped. So there are small excuse whatsoever not to have an election. Yet, it may have some low percentage in terms of turnout and the rest. But it cannot in overall, you know, make us respond or cancel the election. And but also Nigerians are more resolved than ever to want their votes to count. And we can see the enthusiasm that has created the election. Even the youth that used to play football on election day, you can see a lot of them turning out to get their PVCs. So 2023 election is very different from other kinds of election. And let me tell you what, when you check elections in the past, especially in the early times of 2003, 2007 and 11, you will find that most of the time, our neck offices were not tampered with the way it's going on now. Why? Because the people who are masters of circumventing our election will always wait until after the election to start ballot process, to fabricate results, to truncate the process after the election. They will just give any figure and they will announce figure. But because of technology, especially this use of PFAS to be used in the 2010 election, they are already jittery because the era of ballot box snack chain is gone. Right now, the election in 2023, it's supposed to be that the election restored and sent electronically to database right from the polling units. So there are no opportunities to start. If it's not a ballot box, you are just wasting your time because the results have been captured already. Therefore, their plan is to now try to prevent even the election from taking place by destroying INEC materials, by destroying PVCs, a destroyed device machine, and some other tools that might be used by INEC. But the INEC chairman has said that there are backup plans and that the election will go on. So if we have given the INEC chairman the work to conduct this election, why are some LMS going behind to say that the election may not hold? Why do you manage this? So are there people who are trying to sabotage this effort? Those are the questions that we should be asking these people to say that because of insecurity. When these people are not in Nigeria, when is the security? Because at most of the highest level, when we lost territories, they have to conduct the elections. So these people are not patriotic. The elections must hold. Well, it should hold. I mean, that's what is expected of a democratic... They must hold. Consistently, it must hold. Nobody should put us around some to tell us that it's a security. What things are created there for advocating? By going to bomb INEC offices? So these people know what they are saying. The Nigerians should rise up and make sure that these LMS are stopping their tracks. Before we get to the case of Paraventra, I mean, that's not what we're saying, but we're just saying just in case. I'd like to ask you if you believe that, you know, INEC as an empire is ready for these elections, don't forget that we'll be deploying the beavers for the very first time prior to, you know, 2023. We had the introduction of the smart card readers, you know, for the elections. Now, do you think that we're ready? INEC is ready now, you know, for these elections to conduct a free, credible and fair elections. INEC is ready. Nigerians are ready. The greatest readiness is Nigerian citizens. Because it's when the Nigerian citizens have eternal watch, eternal vigilance to watch INEC, to watch the political parties, to watch the government itself, and to watch those detractors who are trying to tell us the election will not hold. It is when the Nigerian public ensure that these people are on track that we can now say, yes, we are on track. But if we leave them to do whatever they want to do, then we will never be on track. Some people, as we speak, are trying to derail INEC. They don't matter what INEC is trying to do. Well, INEC has told us that the beavers, they have been tested in some elections, the last one being the election. It was tested in a new state. And so they are even going to do a mock trial, which INEC chairman told us yesterday. They are going to do a mock trial. And this mock trial, we also make them to consult. And they say they have tested each of the machines, and they are all working. They are going to deploy, have been tested, all of them, and they are working. So they are going to do a mock trial in all the local governments. That does not mean that there may not be one or two incidents where they are not. But INEC, the law says that even when the machine does not work, and there are no elections in any particular polling booth, that the elections can be repeated in 24 hours. Therefore, these things are being put in place in the new electoral law of 2022. And then we can now use that electoral law to guide our election process. And we cannot be refining ourselves to electoral laws that are extant, that are normal, that are extant, which we're talking about in the new electoral law, what it says. Before, we had incident form and all those things in case the machine didn't work those days. But now, we don't have even an incident. There's no room for manual manipulations in this election, according to what INEC is saying. No incident form, no registry, no voting outside the pivots. So what the law provides is that it creates a system failure, then they can repeat the election under 24 hours. And I think that is fair enough. INEC has sold us there already. And what a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is to ensure that we support INEC to ensure that any of them are able to support us. We did not without INEC that we report them to the circuit agencies and such people are arrested. I'd like you to... We're moving away now. We're just going to call it a wrap in no time. But are there issues as an analyst, public affairs analyst and someone who's very, very positive about our democracy in Nigeria? Are there areas or are there things you think that INEC should pay attention to about everybody? Because it's our election, we're all involved. What do you think that we should consider? Are there other factors that we should consider in the preparation of our elections? Well, first of all, Nigeria as a whole should concentrate on the effort of its intels. That is intelligence, reportage and gathering. We should be on the lookout. We should be on the lookout for those who are trying to trumpet the election. This is information that will help them to work. The second thing, INEC should increase the social education and awareness. Political parties should do that, too. And then the National Retention Agency, I think that agency is almost dead. We are not hearing anything from them. They should please work off and start, you know, doing some sensitization for Nigerians, especially on how to vote. At this time, we are going to have to vote with the index finger and making sure it doesn't cross the line. That is the last learning from now on. Then we will ensure that INEC should also ensure that all its backup systems are activated. Because people will try to attack the software. They will try to attack the hardware. They will try to attack the system. They should ensure that there is a backup, especially a cloud backup and other things to ensure that no results are lost. There are the security agencies. This is the time to train. In the report you just mentioned, there is training going on for security agencies. Yes, there is a security agency. This is the time to train them to be disciplined, to be not partisan, to ensure that they preach their lecture at a Nigerian aspect. And not somebody giving them command to take one side or the other. They are for the youths. This is the time to concentrate. This is the time to ensure that your votes come. This is the time to defend your votes. When you come to vote, let's try to mobilize yourself to ensure that no one gets into topography and nobody gets into something else. We have to go. But of course the conversation will continue until the elections are over. Thank you so much for making our time to be with us right here on the breakfast. Thank you for having me. And that's the size of a conversation this morning on the show Ambrose Bouquet Public Affairs Analyst joined us this morning to talk about INAG preparedness for the 2023 elections. Now, most importantly, is that you get your PVC and please do not sell your vote. Okay? Do not sell your vote because your vote is your voice and your vote is your power. If you missed out on any part of it, it's fine to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and do subscribe to our YouTube channel at Plos TV Africa, Plos TV Africa Lifestyle. My name is Messi Boko.