With the Kogi State governorship election less than 24 hours away, the Nigerian Police Force has warned individuals or groups of people who may wish to cause mayhem to impede the integrity of the Saturday election to have a rethink or face the full wrath of the law.
The Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG Ahmed Habu Sani who is in charge of maintaining security during the Kogi governorship election issued the warning in Lokoja while briefing journalists on the preparedness of the police for the exercise.
“Any person that will want to test our capacity, ability in the smooth conduct of the election will know the various powers that we have,” he said.
According to the police boss, the police force has deployed enough security men to man each of the 3508 polling units and 239 wards in the 21 local government areas of the state.
He said the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies are well prepared in terms of manpower and logistics to ensure that the off-circle election in Kogi state is peaceful and successful.
The DIG also appealed to the people of the state to contribute their quota for the peaceful conduct of the election urging them to give useful information that would assist security agencies to perform their duties creditably.
“I am calling on the good people of Kogi State to be law abiding and be supportive of security agencies to discharge their mandate for the peaceful, free fair and acceptable elections in this state.”
Already, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has commenced the distribution of sensitive and non-sensitive materials across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state amid tight security.
At INEC headquarters in Lokoja on Friday, there was a heavy presence of policemen. Also, men of the Counter-Terrorism Unit of the Police Force, sniffer dogs as well an Armoured Personnel Carrier were sighted.
