Civil society organisations in Nigeria have expressed serious concern over potential security threats across the country during the forthcoming general elections following the increasing cases of violent attacks by party supporters and miscreants.
This is according to a report on election violence compiled by the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and Nigeria-based Centre for Democracy and Development.
The report showed that between January 2022 and early February 2023, Nigeria recorded over 4,000 election violent incidents and over 11,000 fatalities across the country.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in its report where it interviewed over 50 journalists and members of various civil society organisations about the forthcoming general elections stated that safety concerns were paramount and many of the interviewees noted that local knowledge was essential for planning how to cover a wide range of potential security threats.
“Others raised concerns that authorities might disrupt access to communication services or online platforms, as they did previously with Twitter.”
The CPJ reports that “As of early February, an election violence tracker compiled by the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and Nigeria-based Centre for Democracy and Development had identified over 4,000 violent incidents and over 11,000 fatalities across the country since January 2022.
“Alleged perpetrators included supporters of major political parties, local militias, separatist organizations, and militant extremist groups.”
CPJ quoted one of the interviewed journalists, Janefrances Onyinye Nweze, as saying that “Journalists have to be a lot more careful going into this election,” adding that the situation has become “guerilla warfare.”
She advised journalists to “disguise as much as possible” by reducing the visibility of press tags and branding on vehicles, saying that “Somebody has to cover the election at the end of the day, but do your best not to put yourself in harm’s way.”