Segun Akanni, Toronto, Canada 
The Nigeria Police Force on Thursday said that its operatives arrested 796 suspects during the March 9 governorship and state houses of assembly elections nationwide.
It said the suspects were currently undergoing investigation.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, stated this at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday during a joint briefing on preparations for Saturday’s supplementary elections.
Mba, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the number of suspects might increase as investigations continued.
The police spokesman said the 796 suspects added to the 323 persons nabbed during the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections brought the number of electoral offenders in custody to 1,119.
He said, “It is true that a number of suspects were arrested during the March 9 governorship and state house of assembly elections.
“Just like in the first election which was the presidential and National Assembly elections, we arrested a substantial number of violators of the electoral law in the last governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
“Specifically in our custody, we have a total of 796 suspects arrested during the governorship elections. That is to say, if you add that to the initial 323 persons arrested during the presidential and National Assembly elections, you will see that 1,119 suspects have so far been arrested.
“Also in the governorship election, the state which recorded the highest number of arrests is Akwa Ibom State with 256 persons, followed by Imo State with 117 suspects and Kaduna with 109 persons.
“These suspects in our custody include suspects transferred to us from the military. As investigations proceed, these numbers may either shrink or increase as the case may be.”
