Edo Police deploy 15,000 security personnel, says vote buyers will be arrested
By DETERMINED to ensure a violence-free election, a total of 15,000 security personnel made up of the police, army, airforce, prisons, department of state security, civil defence, immigration and road safety are to be deployed to all the nook and cranny of Edo State.
Speaking with reporters yesterday in Benin shortly after a show of force by a combined team of security personnel through the main streets of Benin, the state Acting Commissioner of Police, Mr Hakeem Odumosu assured the different political parties of a level playing field.
Odumosu who spoke as a police helicopter hovered above the city however warned troublemakers and thugs to beware as security operatives will firm with them but fair to those who keep the peace.
He warned vote buyers not to bring money to polling units with the intention of bribing voters, noting that security personnel have been ordered to take decisive steps against the perpetrators of such illegal act.
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Going by the provision of the Constitution, he insisted that vote buying was illegal and will not in any way be tolerated by security personnel deployed for the election.
The Edo state police boss said that the security personnel were fully prepared and ready for the polls, noting that deployment was already underway to every part of the state as all the polling units will be covered.
While insisting that offenders will be dealt with accordingly, he said that the police will not in any way harass law-abiding citizens but will only out keep the peace and ensure that everybody including politicians and even the security operatives plays according to the rule.
Odumosu said: We will ensure a level playing field to all the political parties. Nobody will be unduly harassed. Everybody including the security personnel will keep to the rule as they are not above the law. We will be strictly neutral and act in line with the Constitution.”
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