The Nigeria Police Force has said it has uncovered plans by some politicians in Kogi to clothe thugs in police uniform to disrupt the Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase disclosed this at a stakeholders’ forum, Tuesday in Lokoja, North-central Nigeria.
He said that, the perpetrators’ intention was to disrupt the election and cause mayhem, describing the act as “wrong and wasteful investment “.
Arase further explained that, measures have been put in place to properly identify 12, 000 Policemen who would be on duty during the election; noting that 6, 000 out of the 12,000 officers would be drawn from police formations close to Kogi. He stressed that, “We intend to dominate security space that day; if you want to test our strength, have a rethink.’’
The police boss also pointed out that the police will be supported by the Military, Civil Defense Corps, Immigration, Customs and the Federal Road Safety Commission so as to provide an effective policing – with one unit of mobile policemen to be deploy to each of the 21 local government areas of the state, backed up by amour personnel carriers, vehicles and other security apparatuses.
On the safety of electoral officials, the IGP said, nobody would be allowed to intimidate them – the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 8, Lawal Tanko, and three other commissioners of police would be deploy to coordinate police activities before, during and after the election.
He therefore called on the people of the state to feel free by coming out to vote for any candidate of their choice; while restriction of unnecessary movement would be strictly enforced.
