Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has asked the acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to deal with government officials, candidates and politicians moving with private guards during Saturday’s supplementary elections.
Jega said failure of this set of people to fully comply with the laid-down rules for the general elections led to the cancellation of the elections in the affected states.
He said the scenario compelled the commission to declare the governorship polls in Imo and Abia states inconclusive.
Jega made the appeal when he played host to the new Acting IGP at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Arase said he was at the commission’s headquarters to intimate it with his preparation for today’s polls in the three states.
Jega said, “Some of the challenges we faced during the recent governorship elections were associated with the refusal of government officials, candidates and politicians to comply with the election rules.
“This phenomenon was largely the cause of the problems in particularly Imo and Abia. A situation where government officials would be moving with private personnel on election day was wrong. I urge you to pay attention to this.”
While congratulating the Acting IGP on his new appointment, the INEC chairman recalled that the immediate past IGP, Sulaiman Abba, had worked cordially with the electoral umpire, taking the relationship between the agencies to its highest level in history.
Earlier, Arase said having assumed duty just two days ago, he took measures that would ensure hitch-free supplementary polls on Saturday.
He said a fresh approach was being adopted to tackle the security challenges encountered during the recent polls with senior police officers deployed in the states where the polls would hold.
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