The Nigeria Police Force is deploying 22,239 personnel to provide adequate security at the November 16, 2024, off-season governorship election in Ondo State.
The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, disclosed this at the Stakeholders’ meeting on the Ondo Governorship Election, held at the International Culture and Event Centre(The Dome) in Akure on Thursday.
Represented by the Assistant Inspector General for Zone 7, Abiodun Oladimeji-Asabi, the police boss vowed to leave no stone unturned to ensure a hitch-free and conducive atmosphere before, during, and after the election.
He said a breach of peace or security could scuttle the success expected in the polls, so it was pertinent for all stakeholders to discharge their duties with security-conscious approaches.
“The Nigeria Police and other supporting security agencies responsible for providing security in the forthcoming election have a responsibility to solidly synergise and work as a formidable team to identify and nip in the bud all security threats, provide water-tight security at the polling stations as well as all the public spaces within the state.
“Security of the voters, the electoral officials, the electoral materials and the general public will have to be effectively provided before, during and after the election. Concerted covert and overt operations can efficiently achieve this by the synergised security agencies assigned for the election duties.
“To deliver adequate election security, the Nigeria Police, apart from additional manpower from sister agencies, will deploy 22,239 officers for the exercise.
“It is equally significant to advise the other stakeholders like the political parties, the contesting candidates and their agents to conduct themselves peacefully and lawfully, in line with global best practices of democracy.
“All stakeholders should eschew violence, avoid the do-or-die approach, not employ thuggery and play the game according to the rules in the spirit of sportsmanship that will enable the loser to lose gallantly and the winner to be magnanimous in victory. It should be stated that violators of electoral laws run the risk of diligent prosecution,” Egbetokun stressed.
In his remarks, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the umpire body has arranged to deliver sensitive materials for the election to arrive in the state as early as Tuesday next week.
Yakubu said political parties and other stakeholders would be invited to inspect the materials at the Central Bank in Akure and throughout the movement of sensitive materials to the Local Governments and the Ward centres.
“We have warned our staff that there will be consequences for dereliction of duty in any way or form. I will address the staff tomorrow afternoon, including the Electoral Officers from the 18 Local Government Areas.
“As you are aware, the election is a multi-stakeholder activity. INEC has a role to play, and we have always done so in consultation with stakeholders. However, our role has to be complemented by all stakeholders.
“I urge political parties to continue restraining your supporters from disruptive behaviour. We have produced accreditation tags for all your agents bearing their names, photographs, and deployment locations. We have also added a QR code to the tags that can be read from mobile phone applications. The practice of issuing party tags without name, photograph or location of posting to party agents must stop,” he said.
Yakubu reassured stakeholders that INEC was ready for the election and is deploying the BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and uploading results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal.
“Only yesterday, we conducted mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six Local Government Areas in the three Senatorial Districts of the State. The purpose was to test-run our technology deployment to safeguard the election’s credibility. I am glad to report that the mock was successful, and the result can be viewed on the IReV portal.
“But let me also quickly add that the machines used for the mock accreditation and the training of officials will not be used on Election Day. We have sufficient machines for the election configured for voter accreditation and uploading results distinct from those used for mock certification and training.
“So, let me summarise what we have done so far to ensure the success of next week’s 2024 Ondo State Governorship election. We engaged several times with stakeholders at the national level and here in Ondo State. We have made every information about the election available to Nigerians. We have published the list of candidates, the number of registered voters and the number of PVCs collected by polling units.
“We have made available the locations of voting and collation centres across the State. We have accredited observers and media organisations for the election. We have also certified polling and collation agents and made the details public. On Tuesday this week, we visited many of our Local Government offices to assess their readiness for the election.
“We have test-run our election technology in preparation for Election Day. We are deploying enough technical support staff to address any challenges. We have made arrangements for land and maritime transportation of personnel and materials,” the INEC chairman added.
