The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has identified social media as a major threat to the general election in 2023.
Mahmoud Yakubu, the chairman of INEC, made this announcement in Washington, DC, at a meeting of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) (IFES)
Yakubu reaffirmed his commitment to continuing to strengthen his relationships and cooperation with organised social media platforms after pointing out that the release of phoney election results has the potential to incite violence.
While stating his concerns towards the forthcoming elections, Mahmoud listed social media fake news, thuggery sponsored by some political actor and the perennial issue of insecurity in different parts of the country as major threats.
“I say it is a perennial issue because at the end of the day, it is nothing new. However, the dimension of insecurity is a concern in the sense that in the past, it was localized or confined to a particular part of the country, the northeast. But now it is more widespread and we are keeping our eyes, particularly on the northwest and the southeastern parts of the country.
“Elections are conducted by human beings. We worry about the security of our officials, voters and the materials to be deployed. Without them, we cannot conduct elections. We have spoken to the security agencies, they have assured us that the situation will improve before the elections. So, fingers crossed. Those who are supposed to secure the environment have assured us that they will secure the environment for us to conduct elections. Our responsibility is to conduct elections.