The Police Service Commission, PSC says there was enough presence of police and other security agencies at the Governorship election in Edo State on Saturday.
The Commission however noted that the deployment of unarmed security personnel at polling units exposed the election to serious threats in some locations.
The Commission monitored the exercise in the 3 senatorial districts and visited 132 polling units in 9 local government Areas.
In its interim report, the Commission said it received 53 calls and 32 text messages to its 3 dedicated telephone numbers for the election.
Most of the complaints received from callers were mainly on cases of vote buying, snatching of ballot boxes in the face of the inability of the police to offer any resistance and skeletal shooting incidents. There were also complaints from some of the participating police officers who said they were yet to receive allowances for the election.
There were an average of 3 policemen in several polling units while in many of the units in Edo North, there were an average of 7 to 10 operatives.
The policemen in the polling units visited, were professional, courteous and arrived at their places of assignment in good time. They were however, in some places, overwhelmed by voters who turned out in large numbers.
Meanwhile, there were massive security details along major roads and junctions in the State with strict enforcement of no vehicular movement.
The Commission commends DIG Olayele Oyabede, who coordinated the security architecture of the election in Edo State for responding and intervening in several complaints referred to him by the Commission’s team.
DIG Oyebade led a strong team made up of 2 AIGs, Hosea Karma, and Shola Davis, Edo State Police Commissioners, Johnson Kokumo with other 7 visiting CPs Manning the senatorial zones.
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The Commission also participated in the Election Day Situation Room and the CLEEN Foundation Election Security Call Centre.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
