THE Adamawa Police Command says voters in the state should not be discouraged by the heavy presence of joint armed security patrols, in casting their votes on Saturday.

The Commissioner of Police in Adamawa, CP Audu Madaki, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Yola.

The police commissioner said there would be deployment of policemen at strategic locations for stop and search to ensure hitch-free elections.

“We are going to have joint patrols of all security agencies that are going to be involved in these elections.

“Of course, you know in the Police you have the armed squad, PMF unit, counter terrorism unit, the SPU and the conventional men.

“Likewise, the Civil Defence have their own arms squad, the Customs have theirs and the Prisons have their armed squad.

“All these services I have mentioned, will give us their armed squad to form the joint patrol team.

“And, the joint patrol is going to commence 24 hours before the actual Election Day.

“Which means that you will see heavy deployment of policemen at strategic locations, doing stop and search to checkmate the activities of some unscrupulous politicians who might want to take undue advantage of the process.’’

Madaki said the command had received intelligence reports on the activities of some thugs in Yola town and its environs and assured residents of its protection.

“I want to quickly add that, we have received information concerning the activities of some thugs in Yola town as well as in Jimeta.

“We also have intelligence reports indicating that Hun also have some thugs.

“All our operatives have been put on red alert in Jimeta to ensure that these thugs do not constitute a threat to smooth conduct of the elections on Saturday.

“I want to assure all peace loving indigents of the state that when they see heavy deployment of policemen on the street, they should not panic they should come out en masse and cast their votes for candidates of their choice.’’

He said the police had set up a control room to monitor the activities of the security agencies on ground.

He further said that nobody would be molested in the cause of the joint patrol, adding that all lawful methods would be employed by the Police to achieve the desired goals.

According to him, 3,500 policemen have been deployed with additional 2,000 security operatives from sister agencies to support the officers on election duties in the state.

He warned citizens of the state to keep away from ballot box snatching in the course of the election, saying that such act would attract treatment for criminals.

He, however, said the command would continue to intensify security patrol to checkmate post-election violence in the 21 local government areas of the state, in the Feb. 23 and March 9, elections.

NAN reports that 27 candidates would contest for the governorship position across 43 registered political parties, while nine candidates were in the race for House of Representatives and three for Senate.

Also, Adamawa has a total of 4,104 voting units and 2,609 polling stations across 226 wards in 25 constituencies. (NAN)

– Feb. 22, 2019 @ 15:19 GMT |