Adelani Adepegba and Tobi Aworinde
The
Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will meet with
security agencies in the country over the forthcoming governorship elections in
Kogi and Bayelsa states.
The election in Kogi
State is scheduled for November 21, while that of Bayelsa is slated for
December 5.
The Director of Voter
Education and Publicity, INEC, Mr. Oluwole Osaze-Uzzi, in a telephone interview
with SUNDAY PUNCH, said the preparations were underway for a smooth
conduct of the polls.
He said, “I cannot speak
for the resident commissioner but I know that recruiting and training is
ongoing, so there is no problem with corps members and the usual officials. The
IG has met with the acting chairman (of INEC) and they have discussed a little
bit.
“They have been with the
commissioner of police repeatedly and the Director of the DSS. Next week, there
will be a meeting with the Inter-Agency Confluence Committee, where all the
major security agencies will meet with INEC, co-chaired by the chairman.
Preparations are ongoing but the formal meeting will hold next week (this
week).
“Many parties had their
primaries and we were waiting for submission of their lists of candidates. In
everything we do, we either invite IPAC or the individual parties. We wrote to
them and gave them a timetable, which they accepted. Many of them have held
their congresses.”
Osaze-Uzzi noted that
the commission would present the confirmed list of candidates to the
political parties in the state this week, adding that it had also published the
register of voters in line with the Electoral Act.
“Next week, as provided by the Electoral
Act, we will give the certified list to the parties. We have published the
register of voters for the elections. So the next major item, as provided by
the law, is for us to come up with the list of candidates for the elections,”
the INEC official said.
Meanwhile, the police had expressed
readiness for the coming governorship elections in the two states.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi
Kolawole, stated that the governorship elections “will be the best in terms of
security in the country.”
According to her, the security for the polls
was part of the discussions at the strategic police conference convened by the
Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, last Tuesday in Abuja, which was
attended by senior police officers.
Kolawole explained that the police had
mapped out security strategies to ensure that the elections were violence-free,
noting that the necessary equipment and manpower would be deployed to the two
states shortly before the polls.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Executive Director,
United Nations Counter -Terrorism Directorate, Mr. Weixiong Chen has assured
Nigeria of the support of the UN in the fight against terrorism.
Arase had said the police needed support to
combat terrorism in the areas of capacity building, international cooperation
and mechanism for coordinating operational activities of all law enforcement
agencies with counter-terrorism mandate.
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