The Nigerian Army, Police and Department of State Services, DSS, have beefed up security around the state office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Owerri, Imo State, ahead of Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election.
A significant deployment of armed personnel and their operational vehicles were seen on Friday, cordoning off part of the road leading to INEC’s Imo State headquarters, located in Port Harcourt Road, Owerri.
Access in and out of the premises was only allowed for people with a viable means of identification, as residents went about their normal activities.
The Abuja Inquirer reports that since Thursday, there has been a strong presence of security personnel across the state as all routes leading to the state were barricaded to enable security agents conduct stop and search operations and monitor the increased number of vehicles entering the state capital.
Imo has been embroiled in security challenges and there are palpable fears that the Saturday, November 11 governorship election in the state could be marred by widespread violence.
However, INEC’s Head of Voter Education and Publicity, Ben-Opara Emmanuella, said security agencies have given the assurance to provide a conducive environment throughout the entire process of the poll.
Ben-Opara spoke on Friday in Owerri, stating that although INEC doesn’t handle security, heads of security agencies have assured that there is no cause for alarm.
According to her, all flashpoints have been identified by security agencies with adequate deployment.
“In this state, we have some flashpoint areas, but again, INEC doesn’t actually on its own handle security. INEC is part of ICCES that handle security issues which police is the lead agency.
“We have engaged them about 20 times in different meetings within the last three months and for the purposes of the insecurity in the east, the South East Joint Security Committee has its headquarters here in Imo.
“About 10 or to five poles away from here, the head of the Joint Task Force is the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 82 Division division is here and he has continued to assure us of adequate security.
“The Deputy Inspector General of Police is also here with us to ensure that we have a successful and hitch-free election. So for security, it is their duty and they have continued to assure us that there wont be problems and we have taken the assurance to be as good as real too,” she said.
Ben-Opara further disclosed that all materials have already been deployed to the 27 Local Government Areas of the state for the smooth conduct of the exercise.
On the strike action embarked upon by organised labour in the state, she said it would not affect the conduct of the polls, stressing that all preparations were concluded before the misunderstanding between the State Government and the Labour Unions.
She also disclosed that members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, have been contracted to transport personnel and materials to all the 4,758, polling units.
She said all NURTW members have been adequately mobilized, and logistics for ad hoc staff engaged for the exercise have been settled.
