The Kogi governorship election drum beat is now in top gear and as an act of pro-activeness, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Solomon Arase has deployed 15,969 police officers, one Deputy Inspector General of Police, DIG, three Commissioners of Police, CP, and three Assistant Commissioners of Police, ACPs to Kogi state to supervise the governorship election in the North Central state.
Those deployed are DIG Sotonye Leroy Wakama, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Department of Operations, Force Headquarters, Abuja, to supervise security arrangements.
He will be assisted by three CPs and three ACPs during the election. For the sake of the election, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Emmanuel Ojukwu has been redeployed to Force Headquarters, Abuja pending the conclusion of the election.
A statement from the Force Headquarters issued by the acting Force Public Relations Officer, Olabisi Kolawole on Thursday said the three CPs deployed to Kogi State would be specifically saddled with the responsibility of supervising security arrangements in the three Senatorial Districts of the State.
“They will be assisted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police each, in their respective senatorial districts. In addition, 4,969 personnel of the Police Mobile Force (PMF) drawn from different squadrons across the country have been deployed to strategic places, to complement the 11,000 conventional Police manpower, and other security agents already deployed for the election,” the statement said.
According to the statement, considering the geo-location of Kogi State, sharing boundaries with 10 different States, the Inspector-General of Police had ordered a partial restriction of vehicular movement within the boundaries of Kogi State with effect from 6.00am to 6.00pm on Saturday, 21 November, 2015.
“All States contiguous to Kogi State will be heavily policed, while motorists and other travelers plying the affected routes will be subjected to rigorous search by security agents on stop-and-search duty,” it added.
“The Nigeria Police Force notes that the partial restriction of movement order is informed by the exigencies of overriding security considerations,” it said.
-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
