Few days to the governorship elections in Kogi and Bayelsa states, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, November 2, cried out that thugs have been mobilized by unnamed people to disrupt the polls.
Chairman of the commission, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who made this known in Abuja but explained that the police authorities said they were mobilizing their own personnel to deal with any threat to the election.
The Herald earlier reported that a total of 69,282 police men and women will be on duty in the two states to protect lives and property, according to Police Inspector General Mohammed Adamu. Both men spoke at the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) meeting organised by the commission ahead of the polls.
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Yakubu said: “There are already warning signals in the two states; both are politically volatile. Elections have been disrupted by violence in the past. This calls for a robust response before the elections, on election day and during the process of collation and declaration of results.
“Doing so means providing security that will guarantee safety of voters; protection of INEC officials, unimpeded movement, including access to polling units and collation centres for election officials.
“These include protection of accredited polling agents, observers and the media; effectively and dispassionately dealing with disruptive behaviour by political actors and persons acting on their behalf. Enforcement of the restriction of movement in both states on election day and the prompt arrest and prosecution of offenders.”
He said the commission has already identified some flashpoints. He said the thugs were that “mobilised from within and outside the states with the aim of either influencing the elections or disrupting the process on behalf of partisan sponsors.
He said the ICCES meeting was designed to review the security situation in the two states and see how best to secure the environment to enable the commission conduct free and fair election.
Earlier, The Herald reported that APC said it uncovered fake Permanent Voters’ Cards (PVCs) allegedly manufactured in large scale by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the Nov. 16, Bayelsa governorship election.
In a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Mr Yekini Nabena, in Abuja on Friday, APC alleged that the fake PVCs have been code-named “Biafra Cards” by the PDP.
According to Nabena, Bayelsa state chapter of PDP has begun large scale manufacturing of fake PVCs.
“We are receiving real time reports that the PDP-led government in the state is manufacturing fake Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) code-named “Biafra cards” at the Government House.”
The APC chieftain alleged that some of the manufactured fake PVCs were deposited at the residence of the Deputy Chief of Staff to the state governor in Odoni ward eight in Sagbama Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
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