Election: Anambra Police warn troublemakers, deploy personnel to 5,720 polling units

Tony Okafor, Awka

The Anambra Police Command has deployed personnel to 5,720 polling units across the state for Saturday’s general elections.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Echeng Echeng who disclosed in a press statement on Thursday in Awka the Anambra State capital, warned troublemakers to steer clear.

Quoting President Muhammadu Buhari, the Echeng said, “Nigerians should vote for whoever they like from whatever party. Nobody will be allowed to mobilize resources and thugs to intimidate people in any constituency.”

He said the Command had, in line with the strategic directives of the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman formulated a comprehensive strategy in synergy with INEC, military formations and sister security agencies in the state to provide the enabling security environment for peaceful, credible and transparent elections in the state.

He said,”The need for these epoch-making events to take place in a peaceful and secured environment cannot be overemphasized; hence the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the Police Act 2020 and the Electoral Act 2022 mandate the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), as the lead agency in internal security, to ensure that elections are conducted in a peaceful and orderly manner.

“The plan which was conceived and is being implemented under the umbrella of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) was based on a security threat analysis and risk assessment earlier conducted (but constantly updated) by Anambra State Police Command. It outlines the specific roles of participating agencies and places high premium on effective coordination amongst the service commanders/agency heads.

“In accordance with global best practices, our election security plan captures the three main phases in the electoral process viz; the pre-election phase, election-days, and the post-election period. It is hearth-warming to note that the implementation of the pre-election phase has been largely successful, as electioneering campaigns in the state have been peaceful and devoid of violence.

“To operationalize the election-day security plan for the state, the Anambra State Police Command, in synergy with the military and sister security agencies, is poised to do the following on election days: Deploy unarmed law enforcement agents to man the 5,720 poling units across the state; escort and protect all INEC personnel and ad-hoc staff on election duty; escort and protect all sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials as may be required by INEC.

He said the command would provide robust security/confidence building patrols across communities to reassure the citizenry and encourage voters to come out and exercise their franchise freely; maintain formidable rapid response teams across all the 326 wards to promptly and effectively respond to any distress call; and enforce movement restriction orders.

He called on the people of the state to come out on the election days and exercise their franchise without fear of any molestation, adding,”Let me at this juncture, strongly advise all political gladiators and their supporters to play the game according to rules, as anyone found wanting, shall be dealt with according to the law.”