For many reasons, particularly from the security perspective, most Nigerians have concluded that the November 11 governorship election in Imo state would be difficult to hold. The reason was obvious and perhaps valid, going by the trend of the security situation in the state prior to the election.
Before the election, gunmen attacked some officials of the INEC on April 14, 2022, who were conducting the Continuous Voter Registration in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigeria’s Southeast.
Anthony Nwokorie, one of the INEC officials, was killed during the attack while others, including residents who had gone to register, sustained injuries.
The gunmen were believed to be members of a group agitating for the breakaway of Biafra, which they want, carved out of Southeast and some parts of South-south Nigeria.
These groups, amongst other criminal elements wreaking havoc in the region included the notorious unknown gunmen, who embarked on a deliberate escalation of violence targeted at security personnel and other innocent individuals, as well as attacks on critical facilities including INEC offices. The IPOB/ESN issued threats thereby instilling fear and apprehension in the minds of the Imo people
From the onset, the security personnel that were mobilised to oversee the election were professionals that were well trained for the job. Nobody was sure of what was ahead but the security personnel that comprised of the men of the men of Nigerian Police, the Army, the State Department combined with the local arrangement provided by the state government,Unknown gunmen, the IPOB/ESN were often accused of these attacks that have taken a toll on the population of the state.
For this reason, the majority of the residents of the entire Imo state were so uncertain about their safety ahead of that election. and it was not only the Imolites that were caught in that air of insecurity as a lot of Nigerians were apprehensive that Imo state would be the hottest spot for the exercise following the activities of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) in the Southeast region.
The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) mobilized the Imo state security arrangement under the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) comprising the Nigerian Army, NDLEA, NSCDC, Immigration, the Customs, Federal Road Safety Corps, and the FRSC, to ensure that the exercise was peaceful and credible.
The police authorities carried out an election security threat analysis in the state to enable it to drive a deliberate front at de-escalating and reordering the negative trends.
Through this, the Nigeria Police Force identified black spots, potential trouble makers, possible mercenaries and the likelihood of proliferation of illegal firearms and weapons, and illicit drugs, all targeted at disrupting the electoral process.
“We clearly established our mutual responsibilities towards the success of the elections and reiterated our commitment to be driven by it. We conducted consultative meetings with traditional leaders, political party leaders, and aspirants; We met with Road Transport Unions, student leaders, and media bodies, amongst others; We deployed both kinetic and non-kinetic security approaches to ensure a hitch-free and successful conduct of the elections in Imo State. The non-kinetic approaches we adopted included: mapping out and expanding our stakeholder reach”, a top Police Officer said after the election.
He went further to state that “a massive pre-election deployment and a dry-run of the implementation process of our security arrangement was carried out. Our approaches were customized-to-suit and to mitigate the peculiarities of challenges arising from the security threat analysis conducted ahead of the elections in the State. “Mop-up of illicit firearms/small arms and light weapons in the region and Imo state was directed. We forewarned that unauthorized persons carrying weapons would be dealt with as criminals or terrorists.”
A security expert in Imo state, Chief Onyejibe noted that in terms of preparation for the election which many people thought would be very bloody in the state, the Police was professional and very well prepared for action. However, he said that they still witnessed skirmishes in certain areas including the arrest of a policeman who wanted to snatch a ballot box. According to him,
“I am aware that they recognized CSOs, NGOs, Human Right Groups and other critical stakeholders as key actors for an improved policing system and opened up dedicated phone lines to members of the public to reach them directly on matters that require prompt intervention. But, the extent of their response to outcries remains a dot in their preparedness. It questioned their assurance and commitment to providing a level playing ground and to be apolitical.”
As it has been the custom of the police, the coordinating Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), representing the South-East Geo-Political Zone, DIG Frank Mba, was on ground in Imo State to coordinate and supervise the security architecture while implementing the formidable security arrangement for peaceful and secured elections in the State.
Over 25,000 police personnel were deployed across the nooks and crannies of Imo State. This is in addition to personnel of the military and other security agencies deployed. The DIG, according to sources, personally conducted both land and aerial patrols across the states while senior police officers were strategically assigned to supervise and coordinate human and other operational assets deployed for the elections in the senatorial districts, local governments, other specific jurisdictions and identified hot spots.
There was deployment of adequate security for escort and protection of electoral materials, INEC officials, corps members and ad-hoc staff involved in the elections Additional operational assets comprising modern anti-riot equipment, Armored Personnel Carrier, water cannon truck, pick-up vehicles, amongst others, deployed by the Inspector General of Police to Imo State to boost operational capability in the elections were effectively utilized to combat any crisis.
Intelligence management, utilization, and sharing were improved in arresting and suppressing the activities of criminal elements before, during, and after the elections. They also carried out pre-election training and human capacity development programs including the tactical teams. They equally harnessed INTERPOL NCB and other global policing networks to monitor the activities of organized criminal elements capable of terrorizing the state. Interestingly, there was effective border security management to prevent the influx of criminal elements from states contiguous to Imo state and the police also carried out intelligence-driven raids of criminal hideouts across the state.
On the area of professional conduct of the police and other security personnel, the Chief Executive officer of Paths to Peace Initiative, Dandy Eze who was in the state for the election said that “some police personnel cannot claim to be politically neutral and provide a level playing field for all political actors in the elections.”
However, because they were trained and supervised to be civil but firm while discharging their duties, it was observed that close attention was paid to public complaints and observations about police activities in the state.
“That was why the police were able to nip in the bud, activities of some miscreants that went out of their way in an attempt to wreak havoc in some areas of the state. Noticeably, there was sustained vigilance by security agencies while the electoral process lasted, leading to an early conclusion of result collation and even declaration of the same by INEC.”
The Police Service Commission, PSC, commended the police for resisting the hijack of election materials by miscreants during the exercise. The commission credited its staff that monitored the election saying, “They were courteous, approachable, and professional during the election.”
A video clip of the attack was shared on various WhatsApp groups and Twitter (now X) handles.
“As you can see, these are the stupid people we are fighting for to have their freedom. (But), they are here planning for election,” one of the gunmen was heard shouting in the video clip, apparently referring to the INEC officials and the residents, who are mainly of Igbo ethnic group of South-eastern Nigeria.
“Today is 14th of April, we have sent a warning to you people. We don’t want any election. No more elections. No more voter cards. Do you think we are here to joke?” he queried panic-stricken residents while wielding a rifle.
Apart from that attack, some gunmen have repeatedly carried out several other attacks on various INEC facilities in the state, like other states in the South-east. As a result of this, there were fears of possible attacks by secessionist gunmen, as residents of Imo State prepared to vote in the governorship election.
Some communities that have witnessed increased attacks ahead of the election in the state were Amaifeke in Orlu Local Government Area, Izombe, and Agwa in Oguta Local Government Area. Others are in Isu, Orsu, Okigwe and Njaba Local Government Areas.
The state governor, Hope Uzodinma, who won the election as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has repeatedly alleged that opposition political parties, not IPOB, were sponsoring insecurity in the state to frustrate his administration.
On November 8, three days to the election, a controversial pro-Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, declared a sit-at-home order from Thursday to Sunday in Imo State, apparently to disrupt the poll. Mr Ekpa, a Nigerian-Finnish citizen, made the declaration in a video clip which he uploaded on his X handle (formerly known as Twitter).
“This lockdown is only applicable to Imo State,” Ekpa, who is based in Finland, said in the clip.
But the president-general of OhanaezeNdigbo, the top Igbo socio-cultural group, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, opposed the sit-at-home order, saying such order, if obeyed, would stop the election in the state and by extension, “create chaos.” Mr Iwuanyanwu further urged residents of the state to come out en masse to cast their votes on the election day.
The Imo State governorship election, is one of the off-cycle elections that took place on November 11 2023, alongside Kogi State in the North-central and Bayelsa State in the South-south region.
Imo’s governorship election went off-cycle after the Supreme Court, on 14 January 2020, nullified the declaration of Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of March 9, 2019 election in the state.
Mr Ihedioha governed the state for about seven months before his ouster.
Obora writes from Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
