Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Nigeria Police Force on Thursday says it has deployed 25,000 policemen for the Nov. 16, Kogi governorship election. The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, represented by DIG Operations, Abdulmajid Ali, said this at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Kogi stakeholders meeting. Delta uncovers 1, 633 illegal private schools, to prosecute owners According to Idris, the police is ready for the election and will ensure free, fair and credible poll in the state.
“The name kogi is synonymous with violence but we are ready, we will provide level playing ground to all candidates and remain impartial. “Officers have been trained, so we want you to support us to provide the level playing ground to all because, of recent we observed clashes between some parties. “We have taken notice of some of the flash points and we will be serious in these areas, more so, intelligent gathering revealed that some aspirants are also organising their armies.
“They sow uniforms of either army or police for them but we have taken notice of this we are going to take decisive action. “This will not even happen, so if you are thinking of doing that please have a rethink,” he said. Idris urged the people of the state to eschew violence so as to experience peaceful election. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission would strive to ensure that there was no supplementary election in the state.
Yakubu said that the commission had made provision for persons living with disabilities by providing some special materials like the braille among others. He said that special provision was also made for those without fingers and those on wheel chairs. He urged the staff to give preference to pregnant women, nursing mothers, elderly persons in the course of the election. He said that the commission was working with the police to ensure that electoral offenders were prosecuted. Yakubu said that with what happened in Ankpa and Lokoja there were some concerns that made INEC to come 36 days to election to appeal to stakeholders for understanding and peaceful conduct.
He said that the commission would hold another meeting between stakeholders and the peace committee to continue to spread the message of peaceful election. He reassured Nigerians that INEC was not a political party and so would not take side. Gov. Yahaya Bello, said he was committed to a peaceful election and urged residents to embrace peace.
Bello said that the news of violence in the state was overrated adding that the state was ready for the election. Mr Musa Wada the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said election was about the people and so there was no need for violence. Wada said there was no need for the military to be involved in the election because it was a civil matter and appealed to the police to be fair to all.
