The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, has deployed an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Bala Nasarawa, to supervise the security operations in the Ekiti State governorship election coming up on Saturday. The AIG will be assisted by four Commissioners of Police.
Ikechukwu Aduba will function as CP in charge of Ekiti State for the period of the election while the other police commissioners will each be in charge of the security arrangements in the three senatorial districts of the state. They are Danladi Mshelbwala (Ekiti-North), Mohammed Ibrahim (Ekiti-Central) and Augustine Eubakhabokum (Ekiti-South).
Hosea Karma, the police commissioner in charge of Police Mobile Force, will supervise the operations of the riot policemen and other special Strike Forces.
A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, in Abuja today, said that the deployment is part of measures aimed at ensuring a proper coordination of security operations for a hitch-free election, devoid of electoral fraud.
In the same vein, the IG has also placed an order banning movements in and out of Ekiti State with effect from 6pm on June, 19, 2014, till the election is over.
Abubakar directed that movements be restricted within the state between 6am to 8pm on Saturday, the election day.
“Consequently, the states of Kwara, Kogi, Ondo and Osun, which are contiguous to Ekiti State, will have increased Police presence with all entry and exit points in and out of Ekiti maximally policed.”
However, officials on essential duties such as ambulance service providers, electoral officials, on-duty security men, accredited election monitors and observers, accredited journalists and others are not affected by the order.
The Force High Command explained that the restriction order was informed by the exigencies of over-riding security considerations.
The police command admitted that it is aware of the citizens’ right to freedom of movement, as enshrined in the constitution, but that the order is informed by the need to forestall plans by criminal elements to undermine the electoral process as gathered through intelligence reports. [myad]
