How Ekiti, Osun gov’ship polls should shape 2023 security deployment – CLEEN foundation

The CLEEN Foundation has said that security deployment for Saturday’s governorship election in Osun State and June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State should shape the security strategy for the 2023 general elections.

This is contained in the organisation’s post-election statement of the foundation’s Election Security Support Centre (ESSC) on ‘2022 Osun State governorship election’ on Monday in Abuja and signed by Acting Executive Director of the CLEEN Foundation, Ruth Olofin.

The organisation said its 60 Citizen Observers deployed across the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Osun State were to monitor the degree to which security agencies and other critical stakeholders complied with electoral guidelines governing the conduct of the elections from the time the polls opened to 12noon on Election Day.

“The Police deployment for the Osun State governorship election and the earlier Ekiti State governorship election should be strategically reviewed through the usage of data and and risk assessment factors for the the deployment of security for the 2023 general elections.

“This shows the need for effective inter-agency collaboration by the Police and other security agencies to effectively manage the deployment of security personnel after critical assessment and peculiarities of risk factors across the country for the elections,” Olofin said.

The Program Manager of the foundation, Mrs. Chigozirim Okoro, and others who also spoke said the success of the last two elections was largely due to the effectiveness of security agencies, apart from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and other stakeholders smooth collaboration.

The foundation however urged the EFCC, ICPC and other anti-graft agencies to to ensure the investigation and prosecution of those involved in vote trading, involving vote buyers and vote sellers to deter future perpetrators and protect the sanctity of the 2023 general elections.

The organisation among others recommended INEC to “Ensure training and retraining of electoral officers to enable them meet us with the challenging needs of Nigerian electorates, especially in understanding the provisions of the newly amended Electoral Act 2022 and other INEC legal framework and guidelines.”