Police Deploy 66,241 For Bayelsa, Kogi Elections Amidst Raising Tension
The police Thursday disclosed that 66,241 personnel would be deployed for security operations in both Kogi and Bayelsa states. Out of this, 35,200 would be deployed in Kogi State while 31,041 would be in Bayelsa State.
He said the policemen would be complemented by the Police Mobile Force, Special Protection Unit and Counter-terrorism Unit and other security outfits.
Ali said further that the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had ordered the posting of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIGs), AIGs, CPs, DCPs and ACPs to all senatorial districts and local government areas within the two states.
He noted that the heavy deployment of policemen for the election was not to intimidate voters but to make the elections a success.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday warned security agents overseeing the Bayelsa and Kogi elections to shun voter intimidation.
In a statement by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, Buhari said: “Law enforcement officials must ensure that citizens are allowed to vote without harassment and intimidation.” He also urged them to stop attempts to steal or hijack ballots by “all legal means.”
Urging the electorate to be peaceful, orderly and law-abiding, the president noted: “In all democratic elections, there are bound to be winners and losers, and the elections in Bayelsa and Kogi will not be different.”
He enjoined all candidates to accept the outcomes “and wherever they are dissatisfied, they should follow the due process of the law in seeking redress.
There must not be a resort to self-help.”He further wished the people a safe and credible exercise as they vote in the historic and suspenseful polls.
This came as the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) traded accusations over who was to blame for the violence in the Nembe council of the state.
APC, in a statement released by Deputy National Publicity Secretary Yekini Nabena, said it had earlier warned of an alleged plan by PDP supporters to foment trouble in the area.
“The PDP decided to unleash armed thugs, fake military and para-military men in uniforms to cause unrest in the area, ultimately to create fear in the minds of our potential voters,” the party said.
While commiserating with the families of those who lost their lives, the APC said: “We believe that the failed plan was to kill and injure as many as possible of our supporters in some of our strongholds, Nembe inclusive. But we also believe that the people of Bayelsa will not fall to the PDP’s devilish trick.”
But PDP’s candidate, Douye Diri, told newsmen in Yenagoa that the party had earlier received intelligence reports that the leader of a militant group insisted the campaign must not hold because Nembe ‘is an APC community’.
Calling on security agencies to probe the incident, Diri said: “We refuse to be harassed. We refuse to be intimidated. We refuse to be killed by people who are equally aspiring to govern Bayelsa State.”
Meanwhile, a Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja yesterday cleared the All Progressives Congress to participate in tomorrow’s governorship election in Bayelsa State.
Earlier, a Federal High Court sitting in Yenagoa nullified the governorship primaries that produced Chief David Lyon as the candidate of the APC.
