Akeredolu backs Ortom on no 2023 elections if insecurity persists

Ondo State Governor and the Chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu has joined Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State in warning that the 2023 general elections might be threatened if the insecurity raging the country is not curbed.

He spoke on Tuesday night when he appeared on Channels Television’s programme, Politics Today monitored by NewsWireNGR.

Governor Ortom had earlier sounded the warning after he held a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday over an assassination attempt on his farm on Saturday.

He also warned the political class to preoccupy themselves with how to solve the worsening security situation that was threatening the unity of the country and forget about the 2023 election.

When quizzed about the statement of Ortom, Akeredolu agreed with the stance of his Benue State counterpart.

“I think Governor Ortom is right, definitely we cannot conduct election under an insecure environment,” Akeredolu said.

“So if insecurity is not nipped in the bud, it will escalate and if it escalates, all of us should be worried that as at the time we are getting to 2023, we might have a full-scale banditry and other insecurity in the country,”

“With that, there is nobody that can carry out any election under that atmosphere. What is clear is that he has made a good point that the Federal Government must sit up.

“Something just has to be done now to ensure that this issue of insecurity that is escalating by the day is now nipped in the bud and deescalated as soon as possible.”

The Governor also reiterated his calls for redirecting the security architecture of the country by setting up state policing amid other solutions to establish a clear blueprint to tackle the rising insecurity across the country.

“There must be a swift response to all this level of insecurity. For now, since there is nothing else to do, those of us who believe that there should be multi-level policing and the time has come for us to have state police, it is not something you can force down.

“It is something that will have to go through the National Assembly. It takes some time but that is the goal. But before then, I believe that we can have meetings, set up committees on insecurity. Let it be addressed wholesomely without any bias.”