The Nigeria Police have vowed to deal decisively with perpetrators of election malpractice in Saturday’s governorship elections in Bayelsa and Kogi States.
A police statement on Friday by Abdulmajid Ali, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Department of Operations on Kogi and Bayelsa States’ Elections, said “we shall not hesitate to identify, isolate and bring to deserved justice any person or group of persons that attempts to threaten the democratic order in Kogi and Bayelsa States”.
Ali said that while the Police personnel had been charged to be civil, fair, professional and guided by the rule of law, they had also been instructed to be firm and decisive, stressing that they were committed to a successful election and ensure international best practices.
He said for purposes of the election, security aides had been withdrawn from governors, their deputies and all other public office holders, politicians and any other personalities involved in the election from Friday, November 15 until the conclusion of the election.
The statement said the police had undertaken security threat assessment and “identified possible risks, geo-located trouble spots, and classified individuals and groups that could constitute security challenges to the process.”
According to him, the police strategic plan was designed to achieve four key objectives for a secure and peaceful environment, provide adequate security for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff, ad-hoc staff including agents and observers, security of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials, and INEC equipment.
Ali said the police were working in collaboration with INEC leadership, other security agencies “under the auspices of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
He assured that the heavy deployment of security personnel was not intended to intimidate the electorate, reiterating that a total of 66,241 officers and men had been deployed to both states: 35,200 and 31,041 to Kogi and Bayelsa states, respectively.
Ali said the deployment involved conventional police personnel who would be “complemented by special units including Police Mobile Force, Special Protection Unit, Counter Terrorism Unit, Special Forces, Intelligence Response Unit, Special Tactical Squad, Mounted Troops and K9 Section, Airwing and Marine Detachment”.
He disclosed that top police officers had been posted to senatorial districts and local government areas and gave phone lines for complaints in Kogi State’s Joint Operations Room as 08066002020, 08065948693 and 08151532944 and for Bayelsa State’s Joint Operations Room as 07034578208 and 09055555803.
Meanwhile, movement would be restricted within both states between 6.00am and 4.00pm except for those on election duty and essential services while exit and entry points from contiguous states would be closed from midnight on Friday to 4.00pm on Saturday.
