Ekiti polls: How we tamed miscreants – AIG

From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

An Assistant Inspector-General (AIG) of Police, Bala M. Nasarawa, who was deployed to supervise the security at the just-concluded Ekiti state gubernatorial election, has attributed the successful conduct of the election to the hard work of the men and officers of the Force.

He stated this during a post-election press briefing recently, the police boss stated that: “I will like to put on record, that the conduct of the election was orderly and peaceful across the entire state. As we are mindful of the familiar disruptions and occurrences that generally mar the conduct of similar elections, our proactive approach in ensuring adequate security for the conduct of the election made it practically impossible for hoodlums or criminals to break the law or violate the electoral process,” he said.

According to him, “To demonstrate their readiness for the election, and on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, the Force deployed officers across the entire state, comprising personnel of the Police Mobile Force, Special Protection Units, Counter Terrorism Units, Anti-Bomb Squad, the Air Wing and of course, the K9 section, amongst others.

“We also worked with the full cooperation of the entire residents of Ekiti state and all other stakeholders, particularly INEC and the Press, in maintaining a level-playing ground for the conduct of a free and fair election,” AIG Nasarawa stated.

He said that the election has been officially concluded and results announced by INEC, stressing that it was gratifying to note that these results were largely accepted, even by the major gladiators of the process.

Nasarawa, however, advised that in the interest of the general public, if any one, group of people or political party have any grievance or objections to the conduct of the election, such complaints should be channelled to the appropriate quarters.