Military, Police beef up security at Imo INEC office

Security has been beefed up around the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Imo State ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.

Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State is set to battle 17 other candidates in the November 11 governorship election in the state in a bid to retain his position as the number one citizen of the state.

The Guardian observed on Friday the high presence of military personnel around the state’s capital as citizens go about their daily activities.

Part of the road leading to the secretariat of the INEC office located at Port Harcourt Road in Owerri, the state capital has been blocked by security personnel comprising police, army, naval officers and men of the Department of State Services (DSS).

Imo State is one of the South-East states that have faced insecurity in recent years.

It is also one of the three states participating in the off-cycle election on Saturday. Others are Bayelsa and Kogi.

A recent pre-election environment risk assessment by Kimpact Development Initiative (KDI) showed that violence could mar the poll in Imo.

The activities of secessionists, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the Eastern Security Network and other armed non-state actors are a threat to the poll, KDI stated.

It suggested that if all stakeholders carried out strategic violence prevention interventions, there was a high chance that the election would be peaceful.

“Recognising the wide-ranging implications of election security in Nigeria, this study explores the impact of the actions and activities of various state and non-state political actors on the electoral landscape in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi States,” the report summary stated

Speaking on the security situation in the state ahead of the election, Head, Voter Education and Publicity, Ben-Opara Emmanuella, told journalists on Friday that though INEC alone doesn’t handle security, there have been assurances from head of security agencies that there was no cause for alarm.

She said the commission had engaged members of the Inter-Agency Consultative Election Security (ICCES) in the last three months to ensure that INEC officials, materials and voters were adequately secured.

She said: “In this state, we have some flashpoint areas, but again, INEC doesn’t actually on its own handle security. INEC is part of ICCES that handle security issues which police is the lead agency.

“We have engaged them about 20 times in different meetings within the last three months and for the purposes of the insecurity in the east, the South East Joint Security Committee has its headquarters here in Imo. About 10 or to five poles away from here, the head of the Joint Task Force is the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 82 Division division is here and he has continued to assure us of adequate security.

“The Deputy Inspector General of Police is also here with us to ensure that we have a successful and hitch-free election. So for security, it is their duty and they have continued to assure us that there wont be problems and we have taken the assurance to be as good as real too”.