Nigeria: Polls – Kaduna Police Deploy 10,000 Men for Security

Daily Independent (Lagos)

Baba Negedu

28 March 2011

Kaduna — Ahead of Saturday’s elections, no fewer than 10,000 policemen and other security operatives have been deployed by the Kaduna State police command to ensure maximum security during the polls.

Balla Magaji, Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, said at least a minimum of two policemen would be attached to a polling unit to provide security during the forthcoming general elections in the state.

He was speaking on Monday in Kaduna at a workshop on partnership for secure, free and fair 2011 elections for the police and other security operatives held at the Police College, Kaduna.

According to the Commissioner, who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Nwodibo Ekechukwu, the police are prepared and well equipped to protect life and property during the election.

“We have the necessary equipment and manpower,” and the Federal Government has made available all that will be required by the police and other security agencies to provide the needed security during the election, he explained.

“We have to play our individual and collective roles that will ensure successful and violence-free elections,” adding that if all the other security agencies play their roles very well, the elections would be free, fair and credible.

Also delivering a paper entitled “The role of the police and other security agencies”, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Thomas Etomi, noted that the police and other security forces were expected to apply minimum use of force, wear identification tags and be alert in carrying out their professional duty during the process.

According to the him, ‘high-handedness must be avoided by police on election duty, as failure to observe this can often lead to escalation of an incident into violence, especially if a police officer’s handling of an incident is seen to be politically motivated’.

Also speaking, the Kaduna state Police Public Relation officer (PPRO), Aminu Lawal, explained that the police are committed to ensuring a violent free pre, during and post-election, adding that the police will not relent in carrying out her constitutional responsibilities.

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