GUBER POLL: Confusion in Edo

· DSS, Police order election postponement

 

Voters in Edo State were yesterday thrown into confusion by top offi­cials of the country’s se­curity chiefs who took opposing stands on the conduct of the gover­norship election slated for Saturday.

While the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris declared at a stakeholders’ forum in Benin City, the state capital, that the police and other security agencies were ready for the election, his subordinates at the Force Headquarters in Abu­ja countered him.

Idris, who was represented by the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Joshak Habila, said the po­lice had deployed 25,000 personnel to complement those in Edo Com­mand for the conduct of the elec­tion as scheduled.

Based on the police’s assur­ance, INEC officials in Edo organ­ised all the leaders of the political parties participating in the election for the inspection of election mate­rials at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) office. It was while they were set for the trip that the unexpected happened, as they were hinted of a breaking news that the Police and the Department of State Security (DSS) had advised INEC to post­pone the election based on “unfa­vourable security report”.

The AUTHORITY learnt that INEC officials hurriedly called off the inspection tour and sum­moned the party leaders to a meet­ing where they pleaded for time to confirm the report.

The Edo State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who con­firmed the development, however, expressed shock at the police and DSS action.

In an interview with The AU­THORITY, Orbih said that the par­ty leaders were set for the inspec­tion of the election materials when the news was broken to them. He insisted that Edo is not under any form of security threat.

He boasted that even if the election is postponed 10 times, the PDP will still defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) be­cause the people are tired of its misrule.

At a joint press conference by the Nigeria Police and the DSS yes­terday in Abuja, the security agen­cies appealed to INEC to postpone the governorship election on Satur­day because of ‘security threat’.

Force Spokesman, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Don Awu­nah told journalists that credible in­telligence available to the agencies revealed plans by “insurgents and extremist elements to attack vulner­able communities and soft targets.”

Awunah said Edo is among the states marked for the planned attacks by the extremists between September 12 and 13 respectively.

He said that while election is important, security agencies can­not allow the peace of the country to be disrupted.

Awunah said: “We will contin­ue to be vigilant and ensure con­solidation of the successes gained in the current counter-insurgency fight. It is in this regard that we are appealing to INEC, which has the legal duty to regulate elections in the country, to consider the need for possible postponement of the date of the election.

“While the police and the DSS remain mindful of the inconven­iences this request may cause stake­holders, it is our strong resolve that security agencies need not be dis­tracted from ensuring a peaceful Nigeria.

“The attention of security agen­cies should be drawn to any ob­served unusual movements or ac­tions by groups or individuals in your neighbourhoods,” he said.

From its response last night, INEC may formally announce the postponement of the election today.

From the body language of the commission, it may have bowed to pressure to shift the poll.

INEC had earlier insisted that it would go ahead with the election despite protests by students and parents whose wards have regis­tered for the West African Exam­ination Council (WAEC) exams fixed for Saturday, same day as the Edo election.

Later yesterday, WAEC, which had fixed Saturday as date for its mathematics examination, said it had made arrangements for the students to write the paper in some neighbouring states.

We’re are consulting – INEC

Reacting to the police and DSS’ order, INEC regretted that the piece of advice came when it had moved all sensitive materials to the state and locations, even as it noted that the commission had received assur­ances from the security agencies at its last stakeholders’ meeting which ended a few minutes before the se­curity threat alarm, that there was, indeed, no cause for alarm.

An official of the commis­sion, who pleaded to remain anon­ymous, stated that INEC has been in a confused state since the reports came from Abuja that the DSS had ordered the postponement of the election, adding that all the South-South Resident Electoral Commis­sioners (RECs) have been meeting with the national commissioners to deliberate on the development.

“The funny thing is that we are still in Benin City where we have concluded a final stakeholders’ fo­rum where the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Joshak Habila even gave his word that everything is ready; that the Police are ready and that they are going to deploy about 25,000 men for the election.

“He gave assurances about ade­quate security for the election, only for us to hear of news filtering in that security agencies addressed a press conference in Abuja, saying that they cannot guarantee securi­ty for the election. As I speak, we are planning to meet with Civil Society Organisations and other stakehold­ers to determine how we are going to respond to it,” he said.

Rising from the meeting, both the INEC Deputy Director of Me­dia, Nick Dazang and the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chair­man, Rotimi Lawrence Oyekan­mi, disclosed that the stakeholders agreed to consult widely with other security agencies on why the elec­tion must not hold as planned.

APC afraid of defeat, says PDP

In a shift reaction to the DSS and Police advice, the national lead­ership of the PDP, has said that the ruling APC was afraid of defeat at the poll.

The party described the ac­tion of the Police and the DSS as “bizarre, shocking and confusing.”

The PDP, in a statement issued by its spokesman, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, said: “We are taken aback by this piece of advice coming a day after the President and Command­er-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nige­ria, Muhammadu Buhari, was pre­sent at the mega rally of its party, the APC in Benin City, which was concluded without any hitch.

“It is on record that INEC re­cently conducted a ‘hitch-free’ Sen­atorial by-election in Borno State which is a highpoint of insurgen­cy in the country but the security agencies saw no reason to call-off the election.

“It is, therefore, lamentable to hear from these same securi­ty agencies that the election can­not be held in a state where in less than 24 hours, the President and all the APC leaders and members had an uninterrupted rally.”

The PDP, however, called on the President to caution the secu­rity agencies and direct them to provide full security, and also to desist from doing anything that will jeopardize the forthcoming election in Edo State.

“We are equally counting on INEC not to succumb to this false alarm by acting independently and holding election as sched­uled.

“We hope that this piece of advice from the security agencies are not in concert with the APC of having seen the indices of losing the Edo State gubernatorial elec­tion to the PDP,” the party said.

Also in a statement, the Edo state chapter of the PDP con­demned the clamour for the post­ponement of the election.

The security agencies in their report were talking about planned attacks on densely populated are­as during the Sallah celebrations on September 12 and 13, whereas Edo election is on September 10, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Chris Osa Nehikhare, who issued the statement, lamented.