Politicians are threats to elections in Nigeria, they contribute to insecurity – Ganduje

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Abdullahi Ganduje, has stated that politicians are the main obstacle to conducting free and fair elections in Nigeria.

Ganduje made the statement on Wednesday while receiving a delegation from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), led by Hawa Habibu, director of election and party monitoring.

The INEC delegation was on a verification mission.

However, Ganduje who spoke on the issue of insecurity, noted that the menace has remained a major threat to the electoral process, and politicians also contribute to the problem.

“It is important for INEC to undertake the exercise so that they can obtain the viability of political parties for the sake of planning and records and in conformity with the law,” he said.

“I know one of the biggest problems of INEC in conducting elections is insecurity. Everyone will say INEC, but it is the politicians.

“So in order to understand the rules and regulations of election, in order to understand what is required to be a civilized politician, our institutions will be educating our people from time to time, so that they can abide by the rules and it will be digital.

“We have also directed that all our party offices ranging from ward, local government, zone, and states, basically the officers must be available.”

Ganduje who served as governor of Kano between 2015 – 2023 stated that the ruling party is currently putting efforts to set up the National Institute for Progressive Studies (NIPS) that will educate its members on the fundamental principles of democracy.

Meanwhile, Habibu mentioned that the delegation visited to ensure that the APC adheres to the necessary requirements expected from a political party.

“We are here on an annual verification of political parties. It is a constitutional mandate of the commission,” she said.

“We are supposed to find out and issue notices where political parties are not in compliance with the constitutional provisions as to the number, structure of the party in terms of the office in Abuja, auditing of their finances and other issues.”