The United States Embassy in Nigeria has advised American citizens in the country to have three days of food and water at home in case movement restrictions were extended beyond election days.
In a notice on its website, the Embassy also advised its nationals to avoid rallies, stating, “they can turn violent with little or no notice.”
The notice, titled ”Security Alert – Possible Protests Leading to Elections and Restricted Movements on Election Days,” read: “The government of Nigeria will restrict the movement of all personal vehicles on election days across the country.
“Information from the government of Nigeria indicates that only law enforcement personnel and Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC-accredited election observers will be allowed to move freely along the roads.
“Based on past election practice, we anticipate personal vehicles will be blocked from any and all attempted road movement from 00:00 until 18:00 February 25 and 00:00 until 18:00 March 11.
“Please be advised that movement restrictions may be extended at any time. Be alert to government of Nigeria’s information about the restrictions.”
It would be recalled that protests have in the past few days, broken out across states in Nigeria amid scarcity of new naira notes and petrol.
Consequently, banks and Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, were vandalised by frustrated Nigerians whose moneys are trapped in the banking system.
President Muhammadu Buhari last Thursday banned the old N500 and N1,000 notes and extended the validity of old N200 notes till April 10, 2023.
At least 10 governors have approached the Supreme Court to step aside the directive of the President in the case set to be heard on February 22.
