The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has announced the deployment of 34,000 officers to Ondo State ahead of the governorship election scheduled for Saturday.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) in charge of election security, Abiodun Alabi, revealed this during an interview on Politics Today, a programme aired by Channels Television on Friday.
Alabi assured the public that robust security measures have been implemented to prevent the infiltration of thugs during the election. He added that police operatives will be stationed at all 3,933 polling units across the state’s local government areas to ensure a peaceful and orderly voting process.
“We just want to dominate the security space, to let people know that we cannot allow anybody to truncate the electoral process,” he said.
“We have intelligence that some people are trying to organise some militias to truncate the electoral process.”
The police chief said tactical units, an aerial surveillance team, and marine police, among others, would be deployed in the state.
Alabi noted that there would be restrictions on movement on the election day from 6am to 6pm, adding that the police have received intelligence about plans to sabotage the poll.
He assured voters of their safety, noting that the police have done adequate threat analysis to ensure a peaceful election.
“No movement; we are going to restrict everybody’s movement. We don’t want anybody to infiltrate the state,” he added.
“It is part of the intelligence we have had that some people are trying to bring in thugs, hoodlums from the neighbouring states of Edo and Osun to come and cause problems here. We are not going to allow that to happen.
“We are working hand in hand with the military, who will take care of our borders. We are not going to allow anybody to infiltrate the state.”
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