Police to Deploy 30 CPs for Osun Election …IGP, U.S. Envoy, INEC others Preach Peace

Ololade Adeyanju/

Thirty commissioners of police (CP), an Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) and a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) will supervise the September 22 governorship election in Osun State.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Ibrahim Idris, disclosed this at a one-day seminar with the theme, ‘Imperativeness of Police Collaboration with Essential Stakeholders: Towards Secured, Free, Fair and Credible Elections in Nigeria, organised by the Nigeria Police Force.

According to Idris, a commissioner of police would be deployed in each of the 30 local government areas of the state to supervise the election under the command of an AIG and a DIG.

Idris justified the deployment of 30,000 policemen in Ekiti State for the recent governorship election.

He said that the decision of the police was informed by the peculiar nature of the state and that people who did not realise that police acted on available intelligence, criticised them for sending that large number of policemen.

He added that the force would have been flayed if they had deployed 10,000 personnel in Rivers State for a by-election in eight wards but noted that with the disruption of the election in Rivers State, he had been exonerated for sending 30,000 men to Ekiti State for the governorship poll.

The seminar saw all the gladiators in the Osun governorship election, including the candidates of the All Progressives Congress, Mr Gboyega Oyetola and that of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ademola Adeleke, sitting together on the same table for the first time.

The occasion was also graced by the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi and the US envoy in Nigeria, Ambassador Stuart Symington. It was chaired by the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof Eyitope Ogunbodede.

The Ooni noted that beyond the elections, the time had come for “everyone to come together and talk about the peaceful co-existence of all Nigerians”.

The Ooni also admonished politicians to eschew violence. He said: ” Power belongs to the people. The state of Osun is greater than me and any candidate. We don’t want violence in Osun. It is only God that gives power. So I urge all the candidates to work hand-in-hand for the advancement of Osun.”

The Residence Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Osun State, Mr Olusegun Agbaje, who represented the National Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the commission had resolved to ban the use of cell phones at polling stations during Osun election, as part of measures to forestall vote buying.

He also said INEC recorded 69.7 per cent compliance in the collection of Permanent Voter Cards in the state.

Giving the breakdown, he said out of 1,682,495 registered voters in the state, 1,168,719 collected their PVCs.

He assured of the readiness of the commission to ensure that the votes of the electorate count both in the Osun election and the 2019 general elections.

The US envoy described the event as epoch-making, noting that if Nigerians could maintain the spirit of the seminar, the day would never be forgotten in the nation’s history.

He told the gladiators: “If you’re going to change the course of human history, keep talking to yourselves.”

Prof. Ogunbodede, who sang a welcome song for Idris in Yoruba language told the congregation that elections are not expected to be a do or die affair.

He said, “I thank God for what we are witnessing here. It shows that we are improving. All of us are working towards the same purpose – the development of our society. Outside this country, we have seen development and we want to see a similar thing replicated in our own country, and the only way that can happen is actually for us to operate in an atmosphere of peace. Osun State is one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria; and when you say a state is peaceful, it is the people that are peaceful. The development of any society is in the hands of the people that are there. Let’s make this an election that will unite and not divide us.”

The Osun State commissioner of police (CP) Fimihan Adeoye, who gave the welcome address, spoke about democracy and the importance of elections as he reflected on the problems with past elections and the best path to a peaceful one.

Adeoye said, “It is in an election that the electorate is afforded the opportunity to effect a change of those who govern them when the need arises.”

He spoke about the violence, thuggery, arson, and wanton destruction of lives and properties that characterised the 1959 federal elections, 1964 federal elections, 1965 western region election, and 1979 local government election.

He told the politicians and other stakeholders, “It is an established fact that the best approach to law enforcement is to secure the willing cooperation of the people. This seminar has done just that. It’s the conviction of the Inspector-General of Police that the stakeholders that are seated in this hall have the capacity to positively impact on your supporters, your well-wishers, your children, your Wards, your colleagues and any other person on the Imperativeness of conducting themselves in a very lawful manner before, during, and after the electoral process.”

Dressed in police uniform, age-old celebrated Yoruba poet, Pa Alabi Ogundepo, took the centre stage for a while to showcase some of his security-related creative campaigns for the police.

Several stakeholders from political parties, civil society groups, labour unions, and community leaders later took turns to address the audience and announce their commitment to peace in Osun State before, during and after the election.