The Ondo state Commissioner of Police (CP), Oyediran Oyeyemi, on Tuesday, in Akure, the state’s capital, said that no fewer than 7000 security personnel would be deployed for Saturday’s presidential election in the state.  

“We are having over 7000 personnel to provide security for the election,” Mr Oyeyemi told journalists.”

Speaking further, Mr Oyeyemi said the police were prepared to conduct successful polls by February 25 and March 11. 

He explained that the security agencies, especially the police, would go hard on anyone planning to cause trouble or disrupt the peaceful conduct of the election exercise. 

“We are here to assure the public that we are ready as ever for the success of the forthcoming election. The public should rest assured that the forthcoming election is going to be peaceful and we are all ready for that purpose.

“I want to drum it to the public too that thuggery would never be allowed and all other vices associated with it will equally not be allowed,” Mr Oyewunmi added. 

Also speaking, Oyekola Oyelami, the acting Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ondo, assured that the electoral body has concluded arrangements for the election. 

Mr Oyelami disclosed that the electoral body in Ondo would be deploying a total of 17,562 ad-hoc personnel for the presidential election on Saturday.

“These 17,562 ad-hoc staff would serve in various capacities as far as the election is concerned on Saturday,” he added.

The Ondo acting REC, however, reiterated that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) would be used for the election, stressing that INEC has carried out enough sensitisation about its efficiency, usage, and purpose for the poll. 

“BVAS would be used for the election because the electorates would have to thumbprint. In a situation where the thumbprint does not work, then the facial expression will work.”

He added that the electoral body in the state was arranging the conveying of the election materials to the over 3,933 polling units in the state. 

“We have over 1.7m PVCs that have been collected while the uncollected still stands at over 300,000,” Mr Oyelami said. 

On her part, the Comptroller of Immigration Service, Ondo state Command, Olufunmilayo Bosede, said “we have been holding interactions with non-indigenes and for about two weeks, we were able to recover three voters cards and one national identity card from them. They were non-Nigerians and they were four in number.”

Peoples Gazette learned that the meeting held behind closed doors between the heads of security agencies in Ondo was to ensure free and fair conduct of Saturday’s presidential election. 

The Gazette reports that the meeting was attended by all the heads of security agencies in Ondo which included; the Army, DSS, NDLEA, and NSCDC.

Others were the fire brigade service, Nigeria Correctional Services, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and Nigeria Immigration Services (NIS), among others.