Guber Polls: Buhari, Service Chiefs meet in Aso Rock

SUNDAY ODE, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday met with service chiefs to fine tune security strategies ahead of Saturday’s governorship elections.The meeting which lasted for about two hours took place in Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Attendance at the meeting included the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, Chief of Defence Staff, General Gabriel Olonishakin, Chief or Army Staff, Lt General Tukur Buratai and his counterparts the Air force and the Navy, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadique and Vice Admiral Ibok Ekwe respectively and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu.

Addressing State House correspondents after the meeting IGP Adamu warned that thuggery and ballot box snatching would not be tolerated, saying that groups and individuals planning to disrupt the electoral process should so a rethink.

Adamu also hinted that security agents on duty would deal ruthlessly with any act of misdemeanor that would compromise the integrity of the elections.

He said: “We are all aware of the fact that we just concluded the presidential and National Assembly elections and we want to congratulate Nigerians for the peaceful conduct of the elections and we are prepared now for the governorship and the House of Assembly elections in the country.

“We’ll like every Nigerian to come out and cast his or her vote. The security arrangement we provided during the presidential elections is being enhanced so as to provide enabling environment for everybody to come out and cast his or her vote for their preferred candidates.

“We will again advise those that will want to disrupt the process to rethink because during the presidential election, we had some few challenges here and there, those challenges, we’ll not allow those challenges to repast themselves. We are taking more security measures to address those pockets of challenges we noticed.

“So, thuggery again, is not allowed, ballot snatching is not allowed, disruption of the election process is not allowed. We, the security personnel have resolved to deal ruthlessly with anybody that attempts to disrupt the process of this election. For that reason, we expect, every states, the conduct of the election should be respected. We expect that electoral materials must not be tempered with, we expect that the INEC officials would do their work without fear or favour and without being allowed to compromise. The same thing, the security personnel are to perform their duties without allowing themselves to be compromised.

“So, we have heightened the security arrangement to make sure that the election goes without any hitch. ”

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