Security reports from Osun State with respect to the Governorship Election held last Saturday clearly showed that the exercise was devoid of remarkable violence or breaches that would have threatened the smooth conduct of the election in the 30 local government areas of the State.
That the police contingent with a total number of about 21,000 officers and men in collaboration with personnel of sister security agencies could dutifully ensure that no brigandage, ballot box snatching, gun attack etc took place in all the pooling units was quite encouraging and indicative of the fact that elections in Nigeria can be better organised if the leadership chooses to.
In spite of the fact that there were reports on Saturday morning soon after the election commenced that some people were involved in vote buying in some districts, the trend did not gather momentum that could truncate the electoral processes as only a few people were reportedIy arrested by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The determination of the security agents to ensure a violent or crime free electoral process was quite manifest as the average police personnel for instance, had taken seriously the warning handed down (prior to the election) to them by police authorities and the Police Service Commission (PSC) whose team members were physically on ground to monitor the activities of police officers and men assigned for election duties.
Reports of the PSC in the public space soon after the election have indicated the satisfaction of the Commission with the over all performance of the police during the election. The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba has similarly commended his officers and men who participated in the election just as he also commended personnel of other security agencies who collaborated to ensure a free and fair election.
Above all, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in a way, made the job of the police and other security agencies easy by ensuring that it kept to its own rules of playing according to the provisions of the Electoral Law.
While the SECURITY REPORTERS.com warmly commends the police and other security agencies for a violent free election, we hasten to attribute the success to the Election largely to determination of the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to allow the various agencies carry our their responsibilities without fear or favour unlike in previous elections. There was no evidence of interference from the powers that be, even though the national leadership was in a position to manipulate the processes to give victory to the APC candidate in the election.
The outcome of the Osun Governorship Election has shown that if the security agencies are allowed free hand to carry out their responsibilities in any election, we would record less of ballot box snatching, attack on voters and other breaches.
We would therefore appeal that the 2023 General Elections should be allowed to take place in the same atmosphere of non violence, non rigging and no breaches of any kind. Police Personnel should constantly be
enlightened on best to organise non violent elections. They should be well renumerated to avoid compromise.
Comments