Nigeria elections: government shuts borders for fear of electoral violence
By Nukapuh P.
The government of Nigeria has ordered the closure of all land borders and also restricted the movement of vehicles in the country ahead of Saturday’s crucial presidential and national assembly elections.
The order was passed on Thursday February 23, 2023 by Isah Jere, Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, who said borders will be closed from midnight breaking Saturday 25 till Sunday midnight.
This means that movement of people from Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Benin Republics to disrupt the elections will not be possible. Other news sources are however reporting that there could be mass exodus into these countries, especially Cameroon if there is electoral violence in areas like the South East, where the indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB are agitating for a boycott.The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is a nationalist separatist group in Nigeria aiming at restore the Republic of Biafra, a country which seceeded from Nigeria during the civil war with their leader, Nnamdi Kanu who is under detention.
Simon Ekpa, a self-acclaimed disciple of Nnamdi Kanu who is in Finland recently instructed the people of IPOB to boycott the elections and stay indoors on voting day.
“This is one of the reasons we have distanced ourselves from the selection process called Nigeria elections. Our position remains that Nigeria is an irredeemable fraudulent country, and not even your vote can change the fantastically corrupt British enterprise called Nigeria,” a statement said.
According to “The Nation”, Simon Ekpa was arrested by Police on Thursday in Finland for questioning in relation to his activities in Nigeria but was released hours later.
As the 18 candidates clamor for the presidency in what is described as Nigeria’s most decisive elections on Saturday, there is also a lot of agitation in areas like the Bakassi peninsula, where there have been recurrent attacks from the Biafra separatists.
This is also a threat to the government of Cameroon and security forces because if violence escalates from these neighboring areas, it may lead to a serious refugee problem as well as security problems in the already troubled regions of Cameroon.
