Edo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Samuel Adegbuyi has said 13, 135 security personnel from Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies would manned the 2, 627 polling units across Edo State during the 2015 general elections.
The Police boss disclosed this during a one-day workshop on Sensitization and Awareness Creation against Electoral Violence in Benin on Tuesday.
At the workshop organized by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Adegbuyi said five security officers or a minimum of three would manned each polling unit in the state.
Represented at the occasion by ACP Ali Janga, the commissioner said this was not inclusive of other security personnel that would be deployed to provide security at strategy locations in the state.
While urging parents to warn their wards against electoral violence, he posited that the police force in collaboration with other security agencies, are fully ready for the elections.
He appealed to politicians not to see the 2015 general elections as a
do or die affairs.
“Judging by the campaign being mounted by the various political
parties, I can only appeal to politicians not to see elections in the
country as a do-or-die affairs. Parents must also caution their
children against being used to perpetuate violence as anyone caught
would be made to face the wrath of law,” he stated.
There was a general consensus at the workshop that desperation on the
part of some politicians was largely responsible for electoral
violence in the country.
They noted that changing of mind-sets involves the managers of the
Nigerian state, youths, politicians, the Judiciary, the security
agencies, the media, civil society and officials of the Independent
Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Edo Director of the NOA, Mrs Magdaline Umunnah said that elections
mindsets are the critical elements that determine electoral practices
and behavior and therefore the failure or success of democracies.
She noted that in Nigeria today, election mind sets are not only
largely negative; they are also largely irrational and urged for a
change of mind set
She stressed that without changing these mind-sets, it would be
difficult to stop violence and rigging in elections.
The South South zonal coordinator of the NEMA, Mr Benjamin Oghenah in
his address said the workshop was to forestall violence before, during
and after the 2015 general elections.
