Police to deploy 1,500 officers for Katsina rerun poll

• Group flays PLASIEC for postponing exercise
• PDP shuns security meeting as APC intensifies campaigns for council in Kano

The Nigeria Police have said it would deploy no fewer than 1,500 officers and men for Saturday’s National Assembly rerun election for the Mashi/Dutsi House of Representatives seat in Katsina State.Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Gambo Isah, a deputy superintendent of Police (DSP), who made this known yesterday, said the number would be supported by several others from sister security agencies.He said the security operatives would arrive their various duty posts on the eve of the election.

The state Police Commissioner (CP), Muhammad Wakili, has assured that the police would work within the confines of the law during the rerun election, saying the measure was aimed at ensuring a hitch-free exercise.He said this when the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Jibril Zarewa visited him in his office yesterday.He said the command was ready to assist the commission whenever it was called upon to do so.

Responding, Zarewa told the police boss that the visit was to, among others, seek the cooperation of the command on the scheduled re-run election.Zarewa said the election was directed by the Election Tribunal and would hold in 15 polling units in 10 registration areas of the Mashi/ Dutsi Federal Constituency.

In a related development, the Initiative for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance (IMPACT) in Jos, Plateau State, has condemned the postponement of the local council elections earlier slated for February 17.A statement in Jos yesterday by its Secretary General, Isaac Wadak, condemned the postponement by the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) under flimsy excuses in its entirety.

Chairman of PLASIEC, Fabian Ari Ntung, had at a press briefing on Monday, said the commission received a communication from the Plateau State Security Council (PSSC) that the security atmosphere was not conducive for the conduct of the council polls.He, therefore, conveyed the security advice to the state to postpone the election pending the return of a more conducive atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano yesterday shunned the security meeting organised for political parties ahead of Saturday’s council poll. This came as the state All Progressives Congress (APC) intensified campaigns for the polls.The security meeting called by the Police was intended to engender peace and tranquility during, before and after the council election.

PDP boycotted the meeting after the Kano High Court dismissed the suit it filed to extend the council for what it described as lack of merit.Members of the APC, State Security Service (SSS), Nigerian Prisons Service, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corp (NSCDC), Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Army, attended the security parley.