Edo State Will Be A Model For Election Policing— IG

The Acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, disclosed yesterday that a total of 23,000 policemen would be deployed to provide security for the September 10 governorship election in Edo state.

Idris said 54 Coaster buses would be made available to take the policemen to their various beats during the exercise. According to him, the Edo election would be a test case for the ability of security agencies to provide adequate security.

The Acting IGP who was represented by the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Operations, Joshak Habila, disclosed this while addressing officers and men of the AIG Zone 5 and Edo State Police Command.

He said he was sent to review the template put on ground in preparation for the governorship election, saying that 1,152 Hilux vans have been sourced from across the country to ensure proper patrol of policemen across the state.

According to him, “armed tactical teams will be stationed few meters from some polling units because of the law barring holding of firearms at polling units by security operatives. We are also going to deploy more policemen to areas identified as flash points especially in the riverine areas.

“The IG is very passionate about the success of this election. You must be apolitical. The success of this election depends on you. Do not allow anything to deceive you not to do the right thing. Whosever causes trouble will be dealt with according to the law”.

The AIG in charge of Zone 5, Kolawole Sodipo, assured that the election would be successful and would be a reference point for other elections. State Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, said everything required to ensure a successful election has been put in place. “So we are ready and warning politicians to call their supporters to order because we will not tolerate any form of thuggery”.