Election: Police deploys 13,639 personnel in Borno
The Police Command in Borno says it will deploy 13,939 to ensure the successful conduct of the general election in the state.
The Commisioner of Police in the state, Mr Abdu Umar stated this while review progress of the command preparation for the election, on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
He said the command deployed 11,126 officers and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Explosive Ordinance (EOD), mobile police, Rapid Response Squad, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism units for the exercise.
While 2,513 personnel were drawn from the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Department of State Security Service (DSS), Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), among others.
Umar said the personnel would be deployed to the 27 local government areas to ensure orderliness and hitch free exercise at polling units, collation centers and INEC offices across the state.
The command, he said, adopted proactive measures to ensure conduct of the personnel in accordance with Revised Standard Operational Guidelines for the Conduct of Police and Law Enforcement Agents during election.
He said the EOD unit would ensure that all polling units are safe for the voters while the command tactical unit would provide escort to INEC staff, election materials and monitors.
According to him, areas where military clearance operations are still ongoing, police would be reinforced by military escort for smooth operation.
He said that already the intelligence unit of the command had drafted personnel to monitor threat assessment in all the locations where election would take place.
Umar also disclosed that the command had arrested and prosecuted 32 suspects for various offences during electioneering campaign activities in the state.
He reiterated the readiness of the command to ensure protection of lives and property during the elections.