The Nigerian Police Force has announced plans to deploy 22,239 officers to Ondo State for the upcoming governorship election on November 16, 2024.
This deployment is in addition to personnel from other security agencies, including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the Nigerian Army, and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS).
Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbedokun, emphasized the importance of synergy among security agencies to provide effective security during the elections. Represented by Assistant Inspector General of Police Abiodun Asabi,
Egbedokun stated, “The Nigeria Police and other supporting security agencies responsible for providing security in the forthcoming election have a responsibility to solidly synergize and work as a formidable team to identify and nip in the bud all security threats.”
Egbedokun appealed to stakeholders to “eschew violence, avoid the do-or-die approach, and play the game according to the rules with sportsmanship spirit.”
He also warned that violators of electoral laws would face diligent prosecution.
Meanwhile, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu assured stakeholders that INEC is ready for the election.
“We are deploying BVAS machines for voter accreditation at polling units and for the upload of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal,” Yakubu said.
He also warned INEC staff against manipulation, stating that there would be consequences for dereliction of duty.
Yakubu disclosed that approximately 2,053,061 registered voters from the 18 local government areas would participate in the exercise.
INEC conducted a successful mock accreditation in 12 polling units across six local government areas to test-run its deployment of technology.
In a bid to maintain peace, Yakubu appealed to political parties, candidates, and supporters to refrain from violence before, during, and after the election.
“My appeal to political parties always is that we should maintain the peace that exists in the state,” he said.
The commission plans to announce the election results at the end of the collation process on the same day, deviating from the usual practice of announcing results a day or more after the election.
