A Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Police Research and Planning, Leye Oyebade, has assured the people of Edo State that the Force has put in place appropriate logistics to ensure that the upcoming governorship election is free and fair.
He said this on Tuesday, during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today.
“The police as an organisation, we have put our house in order, we have done training and retraining of our personnel, we have enough and adequate personnel and appropriate logistics to make this election free, fair, credible and safe,” he said.
After weeks of controversial campaigns and events, the election is set to hold on Saturday with both Governor Godwin Obaseki of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), widely believed to be leading candidates.
This is the first major election organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the COVID-19 era and it is also the first time that a peace accord is being signed ahead of a governorship election.
The National Peace Committee (NPC) headed by former Head of State, General Abdulsalmi Abubakar (rtd), on Tuesday made the contesting political parties to sign the pact in which they were charged to ensure they work for peace and also accept the outcome of the elections.
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Both parties beamed with smiles and hugged each other warmly, as they signed the pact, dousing fears of possible violence.
“I think it is a noble gesture,” the DIG said when asked why the signing of a pact had become necessary for a governorship election.
“The content was well-read out to everybody even before the signing and the content is very explicit; talking about the need for peace, the need for maturity and the need for everybody to know that their voices can make or mar the election. So, it’s a lot of innovation, if I would put it that way.”
According to Oyebade, it became necessary because “a lot of people are just getting too agitated and there is no need for that”.
