Minister of State for
Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, yesterday said the deployment of armed
security operatives, including soldiers to Osun State for Saturday’s
governorship election was to prevent breakdown of law and order before, during
and after the governorship election.
This came as the Acting
Inspector General of Police, IGP, Suleiman Abba, warned politicians without
legitimate business in the election to steer clear of the state during the
elections.
Obanikoro, at briefing in
Osogbo, said the soldiers deployed to the state were not to intimidate people,
but to ensure peace in all parts of the state, noting that the main rationale
behind the deployment of the security agents was for maintenance of peace and
orderliness.
He spoke against the
backdrop of alleged victimisation of residents of the state by the armed
security operatives, saying “those you are seeing are trained security
personnel who are after peace in the country.”
Steer clear, IGP warns
meddlesome politicians
Similarly, Acting IGP, Mr.
Abba, has warned politicians who have no business in the election to steer
clear during the elections.
Speaking with State House
correspondents after a meeting with Vice President Namadi Sambo at the
presidential villa, Abuja, the Acting IGP said he was already mobilising adequate
security to ensure the election was conducted under a conductive atmosphere.
According to him, “when I
took over on Friday, I met an operational order in place, I went through it
quickly and made a number of adjustments, which include the fact that we need
to be there early enough, so I adjusted the time that officers were directed to
report.
”I made sure that by
Saturday, they were there. The aim is that if anyone is training anybody to
cause violence, we are telling him that we would make sure the law takes its
course.
”In fact, my advice is this, if you don’t have
any business to do with Osun election, just don’t go there because the law will
catch up with you. This is my advice.”
For the thugs in PDP
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