As voters across Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states elect their next governors today amidst threat of violence, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has promised that their votes would be made to count with real-time upload of results on its Results Viewing (IReV) portal.
This is even as the commission gave a stiff warning to all the 46,084 officials it deployed for the polls to avoid partisanship and any other act that could compromise the integrity of the electoral process.
But while the electoral umpire reiterates its confidence in the peaceful conduct of the election, pockets of skirmishes, including a bloody clash between supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) late Thursday in Bayelsa, as well as reported violent incidents in the two other states, have continued to heighten fear in the states.
This is even as heavy security deployments have been made by the police and other security agencies. The police, for instance, said 40,000 personnel had been deployed to Kogi State while 25,565 personnel were deployed to Imo and an unspecified number deployed to Bayelsa State. These personnel are to be headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police in each state.
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The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) also said it deployed 22,600 personnel. The military’s unspecified number of personnel and vehicles were also sighted across the states, while the 1,500 personnel deployed by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) are expected to help with the enforcement of vehicular restriction.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have also deployed personnel to curtail vote-buying and selling.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room, in its preliminary statement on the election, has called on all political parties and candidates participating in the elections across the three states to adhere to the Peace Accord signed with the National Peace Committee, and refrain from all forms of violence and intimidation of election workers and voters.
Its convener, Y.Z Ya’u said that INEC would need to do its utmost to ensure that these off-cycle elections do not further worsen citizens’ confidence in our electoral process. He noted that that “irregularities that trailed the conduct of the 2023 general elections have left a lot of voters disenchanted and dwindled confidence in the electoral process.”
