Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general
of police (IGP), says the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states
were peaceful.
Adamu said this while speaking at
the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) inter-agency consultative
committee on election security (ICCES) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.
The elections, conducted on
November 16, were marred by cases of violence, thuggery, ballot box snatching
and intimidation of voters and electoral officials.
At least four persons were
reported dead in separate attacks in the two states.
But speaking at the meeting which
was held at the INEC headquarters, Adamu, who was represented by Bashir Makama,
an assistant inspector-general of police (AIG), said the polls were “relatively
peaceful”.
He, however, admitted that there
is a need to improve election security.
“In the whole, despite the
related infractions or some sort of thuggery observed and other challenges that
were faced, the election could be said to be relatively peaceful,” he said,
adding that “there is still room for improvements.”
He said the police arrested at
least 43 suspects in connection with violence and violation of electoral laws
during the elections in the two states.
In his remarks, Mahmood Yakubu,
INEC chairman, asked for proper identification of all police officers deployed
in polling units “so that they will be held responsible for the conduct of
elections in those locations”.
“The commission believes that the
purpose of security deployment during elections is to protect the voters,
election officials and materials, accredited observers, the media and to
safeguard the integrity of the processes generally, including the polling units
and collation centres,” he said.
“Therefore, the deployment of
security personnel in all future elections should be tied to specific locations
and activities.
“All security personnel deployed
to polling units and collation centres should be identified by name as is the
case with INEC officials.
“This will not only enhance
transparency, but the commission and security agencies will know who to contact
in specific locations during elections when the need arises.”
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