The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr Solomon Arase, has deployed Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Department of Operations, Force Headquarters, DIG Sotoye Wakama, to Kogi State to supervise security arrangements during the November 21 governorship election.
This is contained in a statement by the Force spokesperson, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP Olabisi Kolawole, in Abuja on Thursday.
Others deployed are; CP Isaac Eke, CP Peter Ogunyanwo and CP Sam Okaula, who would specifically supervise security arrangements in the three Senatorial Districts of the state.
“The three CPs deployed to Kogi State will be specifically saddled with the responsibility of supervising security arrangements in the three Senatorial Districts of the state,“ the statement said.
It said that the commissioners would be assisted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in each of the districts.
It said that the measure was aimed at ensuring proper coordination of security operations toward a hitch-free election.
According to the statement, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu, has been redeployed to Force Headquarters, pending the conclusion of the election.
It said that 4,969 personnel of the Police Mobile Force had been deployed to strategic places to complement the 11,000 Conventional Police and other security agents.
It stated that Arase had ordered a partial restriction of vehicular movement within the boundaries of Kogi from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the election day.
The statement said that the partial restriction of movement was s informed by the exigencies of overriding security considerations.
It urged travelers to use alternative routes where necessary within the period.
It called on the people, especially candidates, party chieftains, opinion moulders and other relevant stakeholders to conduct themselves within the ambit of the extant electoral laws.
The statement warned all security details to desist from accompanying their principals to the polling booths and collation centres.
It said that only security personnel assigned for the election duties would be allowed within election designated areas.
In a related development, the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) said on Thursday that it would deploy 325 citizen-observers for the election.
TMG Chairman, Mr Ibrahim Zikirullahi, told newsmen in Lokoja that the observers would comprise of 300 stationary and 25 roving ones.
He said that they had been carefully selected from across the 21 local governments in the state.
He said that the observers would be deployed to 300 randomly selected polling units out of the 2,548 in the state.
Zikirullahi said that the TMG, an independent and non-partisan organisation, is a coalition of 400-civil-society groups based in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to him, their duty is mainly to provide timely and accurate information on the conduct of voting and counting of the results of the election.
“ TMG’s Quick Count is the only observation methodology that can independently verify the official results of the governorship election as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission,” the chairman said.
He said that the observers had been trained and accredited to witness the entire election process from start-up at the polling units through the announcement and posting of official results.
“TMG calls on the electorate to go to the polls confident that their votes will count. Quick Count will provide independent verification of the gubernatorial results as announced by INEC.
“If the official results reflect the ballots cast at polling units, TMG will confirm them.
“If the official results do not reflect the ballots cast at polling units, TMG will expose them, “ Zikirullahi said .
