Metro
Police deploy over 15,500 personnel for Rivers election
The Rivers state police command has deployed 15,544 of its troops to various parts of the state as part of efforts to curb violence and ensure safety during the governorship election on Saturday.
The state commissioner of police, Usman Belel who made the statement on Friday said there will be restriction of movement which will last for 18 hours between 12 am to 6 pm except for authorised persons and eligible voters.
Belel explained that the decisions were taken after a meeting by the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
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“Recall that in the build up to the Governorship and House of Assembly Elections, there were meetings and Interfaces by the Security Agencies headed by my humble self, where far reaching decisions and steps were taken to ensure that our traditional role of protecting the Electoral process was carried out unhindered,” he said.
“Today, I have called you to brief you on the Security arrangements put in place to ensure that the Governorship and House of Assembly Elections are conducted in an atmosphere of peace, devoid of rancour.
“As part of the Security arrangements for the Elections, the Command is deploying 15.544 personnel to be complemented by the deployments from other sister Agencies to cover and protect the 23 LGAs, 319 Wards, 4.442 Polling Units and 2.424 voting points in the State, to ensure full Security coverage of the process with 3 Security Personnel each posted to a polling Unit. There will also be an outer perimeter deployment of armed men to guide against infiltration and hijack of the process by hoodlums or persons that wont to ferment trouble”, he said.
He also disclosed that security operatives would be fully on ground in INEC offices across the state.
By Todimu Ogunade…
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