Strike: Labour Begins Shutdown, DIGs Deployed For Elections

The Organized Labour had last Friday issued a five-day ultimatum over the arrest of the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, by the police in Owerri, Imo State, on November 1 during a workers’ protest.

The labour centres had demanded the redeployment of the commissioner of police in the state and the arrest and prosecution of an aide to the governor who allegedly led suspected thugs who assaulted Ajaero and other labour leaders.

Ajaero was taken into what the police called protective custody after he was allegedly beaten by suspected thugs.

A few hours after the unions expressed their intention to ground the South-Eastern state, a group of protesters stormed the force headquarters, Abuja, demanding the removal of the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha, over alleged compromise in securing lives and property in the state.

The protesters who were led by Muritala Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party governorship candidate in the November 11 election, claimed that three policemen and some members of the party were killed at Anyigba, Kogi State.

The victims were reportedly killed by thugs allegedly operating in the guise of a state joint task force. They allegedly attacked the residence of the SDP Campaign Director-General, Sheikh Ibrahim, in the early hours of Tuesday.

Ajaka and others later held a meeting with the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

Regardless of the strike directive by the organised Labour, the police authorities have scaled up their preparation for the governorship election with the deployment of Deputy Inspectors-General of Police, Ede Ayuba, Frank Mba, Habu Sani, and Daniel Sokari-Pedro to oversee the polls in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states.

Ayuba, who is the DIG in charge of Operations will coordinate the overall election security from the Force headquarters.

Mba will coordinate the election security in Imo State, Sokari-Pedro will superintend the poll in Bayelsa, and Sani has been mandated to ensure a hitch-free exercise in Kogi State.

Meanwhile, the IG on Tuesday announced that there would be no vehicular movement as well as movement of canoes, ships, and other means of transportation via waterways in the three states starting from 12.01 am to 6 pm on Saturday.

Egbetokun, who said the decision was in line with measures put in place to ensure free, fair and credible elections, also barred quasi-security outfits from carrying out operations during the exercise.

Giving details of the election security operations, the force spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi stated that the authorities had deployed three new CPs in the states.

He noted, “The IG has deployed DIGs and AIGs to coordinate election security in the three states. The AIGs will be assisting the DIGs.

“DIG Ayuba, being the DIG Operations, will coordinate the entirety of the election security from the Force Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja. DIG Mba, being the most senior police officer from the South-East will coordinate election security in Imo State.

DIGs deployed

“DIG Sokari-Pedro being the most senior police officer from the South-South, will coordinate election security in Bayelsa, while DIG Sani will stand in for DIG Ayuba, the most senior police officer from the North-Central, to coordinate election security in Kogi State.

Affirming that the three states had been fortified with different security equipment, including helicopters on aerial patrol, he further explained that both marine and gunboats have been deployed in riverine areas of the states.

“There’s no cause for alarm, and the police are not involved in partisanship. New CPs will be deployed to take charge of the Imo, Kogi, and Bayelsa Police Commands for elections security,’’ he disclosed.

Speaking further, he stated, “This election will be different. DCPs and ACPs will coordinate the election security at LGA levels, in the towns and villages. These are officers whose ranks are higher than the DPOs. So, electorates should have no cause to worry, as security will be tight.”

Meanwhile, in a move to ensure water-tight security during the election, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has said that it will deploy 22,600 officers for the November 11 governorship polls in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states.

This was disclosed to our correspondent on Tuesday by the NSCDC Spokesperson, Babawale Afolabi.

“The NSCDC would be deploying 22,600 personnel for the governorship election in Kogi, Bayelsa, and Imo states,” he stated.

According to Afolabi, the deployment by the NSCDC Commandant General, Ahmed Audi will provide “water-tight security for the electorate, officials, other stakeholders and non-sensitive materials before, during and after the exercise.

“Our personnel are adequately briefed on how to discharge their duties in synergy with other security agencies and stakeholders.

“Undercover operatives, Arms Squad, operatives in the Counter-Terrorism, CG’s Special Intelligence Squad, Female Special Force, Rapid Response Squad, Crack Squad, and Anti-vandal Unit are all detailed to prevent any vacuum which saboteurs may leverage on to perpetrate any act that could breach the peace in the states.”

He noted that the CG has told residents of the states to cooperate with NSCDC and other sister agencies, urging them to “shun any act capable of thwarting the strategic plans put on the ground for the peaceful conduct of the elections and causing a breach of peace or damage to critical national assets and infrastructure.

“Audi has warned against any act of thuggery, ballot box snatching, and other acts which could mar the exercise and had called on all politicians to caution their supporters emphasizing that sabotage will not be condoned.

“We will remain neutral on the field to ensure the security of the electorate, other stakeholders and election officials and no act of sabotage will be tolerated,” Afolabi added.

Also, the Anambra State Command of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps said it had deployed various operational assets to complement other security agencies in the Imo State governorship election.

The state Commandant, Edwin Osuala, stated this while addressing officers and men of the Command at the state command headquarters in Awka, on Tuesday, before their deployment to Imo State.

In a move to ensure the efficient conduct of the exercise, the INEC said 137,973 polling and collation agents would participate in the polls.

This was disclosed in a statement signed by the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, on Tuesday.

According to the statement, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State.

“Sixteen political parties are sponsoring candidates for the election in Bayelsa State and 18 in both Imo and Kogi States. The elections will be held in 10,470 polling units (excluding the 40 polling units without registered voters).

“Each political party is expected to nominate polling agents for all the polling units as well as 649 Ward, 56 LGA, and three state collation centres.

“However, at the close of the deadline for uploading the list of agents to the INEC dedicated portal by political parties, 34,704 agents were uploaded for Bayelsa State, 65,274 for Imo State, and 37,995 for Kogi State, making a total of 137,973 polling and collation agents for the three States.

“However, the detailed breakdown shows that not all the parties nominated agents for the polling and collation centers across the states. Indeed, some political parties have no polling unit or collation agents in some States despite having candidates in the election,” the statement read.