Just In: Police Deploy Helicopters, Drones, 4 Personnel to Each Polling Unit for Osun Election
By Aliyu Oyewole
The Nigeria Police Force has assured residents of Osun State of adequate security ahead of Saturday’s governorship election, announcing the deployment of helicopters, drones, Mobile Police Force personnel and other security operatives across the state.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Okokon Iniedu, gave the assurance on Friday at the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo after addressing officers deployed for the election.
Iniedu said Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, had directed the police to ensure a safe, peaceful and credible election while protecting lives and property.
He warned that the police would not tolerate vote-buying or other forms of electoral malpractice during the poll.
“Vote buying is an electoral malpractice and we will not tolerate any form of vote buying in Osun State,” he said.
According to him, the IGP had directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of the election to ensure that anyone caught buying votes was arrested and prosecuted immediately.
Iniedu also assured voters, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other election personnel of the neutrality of security agencies during the election.
He said aerial surveillance had commenced across the state, while security personnel had been deployed to polling units, INEC offices and other strategic locations.
“As we speak, our air components have arrived, our Helicopter and Drone Units are on ground and they have commenced surveillance patrols across the state,” he said.
He added that one unit of the Police Mobile Force had been deployed to each local government area, while two units of armed MOPOL personnel would be assigned to INEC operations.
Seven units of the Special Protection Unit, he said, would handle the movement of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials and protect electoral officers.
The police spokesperson further disclosed that additional armed MOPOL personnel had been stationed at the command headquarters for rapid response, while patrol teams and checkpoints had been deployed across the state.
According to him, the IGP had directed the deployment of four unarmed security personnel to each polling unit.
“For this election too, the IGP has directed that we post four unarmed personnel to each polling booth. Osun State has over 3,700 polling units, we’ll be having four law enforcement personnel at each of these units for the elections,” he said.
Iniedu said the police had conducted security threat assessments across all 30 local government areas and deployed personnel according to the identified risks.
He added that covert operatives in plain clothes had also been deployed across the state to gather intelligence and respond to emerging threats.
The FPRO said movement restrictions would commence from midnight on Friday as part of measures to secure the election.
“By 12 midnight on Friday into Saturday, we will be locking down the town. We will be stopping vehicular movement at all locations in the state,” he said.
On recent security incidents in Osun, Iniedu said the command had not received reports of fresh killings but acknowledged previous cases involving cult clashes and alleged politically motivated violence.
He said investigations into some of the incidents were ongoing, while others had already resulted in charges before the courts.
“The role of the police is to investigate, get details of the incidents and charge them to court,” he said.
