A Civil Society Organisation ‘The Get Involved Campaign’, has on Tuesday September 6, raised an alarm over what it described as a plot by Security Agencies to scuttle the September 10, Edo governorship election.
In a statement signed on behalf of the group, by Ayuba Ephraim, and made available to Post-Nigeria, the group raised serious concerns over the sudden redeployment of the Edo State Commissioner of Police, a few days to the election.
According to Ephraim, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from its official pronouncement is ready for the task ahead, and seems to have learnt from its past experiences, and has put in place plans to ensure that the election is conclusive and votes of the electorates count.
He however, added that with this move, there is need for Nigerians to rise up, and get involved in the process, to monitor and ensure that rigging is not allowed, and that the Security Agencies do not compromise on acceptable standards, that would benefit either of the parties involved in the elections.
“It is important at this point, to situate the inglorious role being played of Security Agencies, especially the Nigerian police, few days to the State gubernatorial election, to truncate well established plans by the INEC to guarantee a free and fair election in the State.
“How else do you explain the sudden redeployment of the Commissioner of Police of the State, few days to the election? While we do not doubt the competence of the new Commissioner of Police, we wonder, why now?“The sudden transfer by the Police force, is a wrong signal, as it will undermine the security network and meetings done before now, between the Security Agencies and the Commission, with a view to ensuring free and fair election, and also ensure that the votes of the registered voters, count.”
The statement added, that more worrisome is that the transferred Commissioner has fully participated in the inter-agency Committee on election security of INEC, that is said to have completely overhauled and put in place new full proof elections security architecture, that was primarily meant to forestall cases of violence induced inconclusive elections, and crass manipulation by political actors.
“This new security strategy, was to be tested in Edo State, and based on its success adjusted in Ondo for a broader security regime, that will be out in place to confine rigging to the dustbin.“We also reliably gathered that following this transfer, there is a plan to also replace all the Divisional Police Officers, DPOs, in the State, as part of a grand plot to frustrate INEC’s plans and leave the electoral turf as a free for all.“This sudden change and movement of security agencies in the State, is therefore suspicious, as the new structure will only carry out the script of their pay masters at the expense of the electorates.”
Like Us on Facebook!
0 comments:
Post a Comment