The Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, has cautioned security agencies against waiting until election day is around the corner before beginning preparations to safeguard the electoral process.
Musa said the growing sophistication of threats confronting elections meant that security planning must begin well ahead of campaigns and polling, with intelligence gathering, inter-agency cooperation and continuous monitoring forming the foundation of the exercise.
The minister spoke on Tuesday at a security seminar organised by Blueprint newspaper, where he argued that treating election security as a one-day operation could expose the electoral process to avoidable risks.
According to him, effective election security is built through months of preparation rather than emergency deployment of personnel shortly before voters head to the polls.
“The lesson is clear: successful election security is not achieved through last-minute deployments. It is achieved through months of planning, intelligence-led operations, inter-agency coordination, effective communication and continuous assessment of emerging threats, and above all, through the confidence that citizens place in the institutions established to serve them,” Musa said.
He added, “Security should never be viewed as an event. It is a process that begins long before campaigns commence and continues long after the final vote has been counted.”
Musa said the traditional focus on protecting polling stations was no longer sufficient, noting that modern elections could be disrupted through several channels, including cyberattacks, disinformation, economic pressures and the exploitation of ethnic and religious differences.
He warned that the most dangerous threat to an election might not necessarily come from an armed individual physically present at a polling unit.
Rather, he said, an anonymous individual operating online could spread false information, manipulate public opinion and weaken citizens’ confidence in the electoral process without ever appearing at a polling centre.
To address the emerging threats, the minister outlined six areas which he said should guide future election-security planning: strategic intelligence, protection of digital infrastructure, civil-military coordination, unified strategic communication, a responsible information environment and active citizen participation.
Musa identified intelligence as the starting point for effective election security, saying security agencies must move away from reacting to incidents and instead develop early-warning mechanisms capable of identifying threats before they escalate.
“Modern election security must be intelligence-led rather than incident-driven, with threat assessments, early warning systems and real-time information sharing among security, intelligence and electoral institutions,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of protecting technology used in the electoral process, warning that electoral databases, communication systems and other digital platforms could become targets for cyber intrusion, sabotage and other forms of interference.
On cooperation among security agencies, Musa urged institutions to work within their constitutional mandates while improving joint planning and operational coordination.
He said institutional rivalry could undermine security operations, particularly during elections and other major national events.
“The constitutional roles of all security agencies must continue to be respected, while strengthening coordination, interoperability and joint planning; experience has shown that seamless collaboration, not institutional competition, delivers the best outcomes during national emergencies and major public events,” the minister said.
Musa further identified strategic communication as crucial to preventing false narratives from taking hold, arguing that authorities must communicate quickly and accurately whenever credible security concerns arise.
“In today’s information environment, silence often creates space for misinformation, and timely, accurate, coordinated public communication is essential to sustaining public confidence before, during and after elections,” he said.
He maintained that government agencies could not tackle misinformation alone, calling for greater involvement from the media, technology companies, civil society groups, schools and citizens.
“Government alone cannot defeat misinformation; the media, technology companies, civil society organisations, educational institutions and citizens all share responsibility for promoting fact-based public discourse and rejecting narratives designed to incite violence or undermine confidence in democratic institutions,” Musa said.
Also speaking at the event, former Zamfara State Governor, AbdulAziz Yari, appealed to political parties to stop exploiting insecurity for political advantage.
Yari argued that the worsening security situation should be approached as a national crisis rather than an issue to be weaponised during campaigns to gain public sympathy or weaken opponents.
“Let us encourage all political parties to understand that insecurity is not something to be traded with for the purpose of winning the hearts of citizens. The citizens are aware that we are in trouble,” he said.
Yari, who governed Zamfara from 2011 to 2019, said his experience during the 2015 and 2019 elections showed that insecurity had remained a persistent challenge across successive administrations.
He urged political leaders to put aside partisan interests and work towards a fairer and more coordinated response to the country’s security challenges, noting that the problem had persisted from the administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan through Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure and into the present government.
