The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps is deploying a total number of 13,311 personnel to complement that of Edo state Command and Zonal Command in Benin in other to ensure free, fair and credible election in Edo state devoid of electoral violence.
The personnel were drawn from the Headquarters and neighbouring state such as Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta and Ondo respectively.
The Corps in addition has deployed the Deputy Commandant General in charge of Operations, Hillary Kelechi Madu to lead the assignment along with other 3 Assistant Commandant Generals, 7 Commandants to serve as field coordinating officers in charge of the three senatorial districts.
It has also deployed 60 sniffer dogs to INEC office for crowd control and detection of combustive elements as well as IED.
Other specialized unit deployed are mobile surveillance vehicles, the special weapon and tactical unit (SWAT), the Chemical Biological and Radioactive Nuclear unit (CBRN), Counter Terrorism, Operations and Special Duties, Intelligence department, Medical and Disaster Management among others.
The Commandant General of the Corps Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu, made this known during the training of her personnel on the new electoral guidelines in Covid-19 period at the Corps Headquarters Abuja.
Gana while briefing the participants, both representatives of INEC Chairman and the National Council for Disease Control (NCDC) spoke on the need for training before the Edo election proper.
He said the training became necessary to ensure that every act of electoral malpractices, violence, act of hooliganism and other social vices that could affect the smooth conduct of the elections are being nipped in the bud.
He reiterated that the Corps as a critical stakeholder in election monitoring is ensuring that personnel are properly guided before being fully deployed for any election for the provision of physical security at the polling booth, polling units, protection of the ballot boxes as well as electoral officers.
“The Corps has a critical function to perform before, during and after election by educating and enlightening the populace, the political actors and political gladiators to employ a peaceful approach of conducting the electoral processes without rancour,” he said.
Gana also states that apart from the election duty, there is need to beef up security around Infrastructure and National Assets from being soft target of attacks by hoodlums and vandals who unduly take advantage of election periods to carry out their nefarious and dastardly act as well as identified black spots and other areas prone to attack and vandalism.
The CG assured the personnel of adequate provision of logistics for the operation and also cautioned that they should work in harmony with other sister agencies without conflict as the Corps will not tolerate any act of misconduct during the operations.
He warned the personnel to deal with the populace with a high level of civility and diplomacy to protect the name and integrity of the Corps.
He urged politicians to eschew violence and allow peace to reign warning that anyone caught would face the wrath of the law.
