The Nigeria Police has said it is deploying more policemen to states it considers to be more prone to violence in this week’s general elections.
Last week, the National Emergency Management Agency said 20 out of Nigeria’s 36 states would likely experience violence during the March 28 and April 11 general elections.
According to NEMA Coordinator for Abuja Operations, Mr. Ishaya Chinoko, the flashpoint states include those where violence occurred during and after the 2011 polls. Though Chinonko refused to give a list of the states saying that doing that can create panic among the residents, NEMA Head of Ekiti Operations Office, Saheed Akiode, stated that the states included Ondo, Osun and Ekiti.
Akiode said, “Apart from the fact that this phenomenon affects the credibility of the electoral system, the democratic system and the rule of law, the nature, extent and magnitude of violence and rigging associated with elections in Nigeria had assumed alarming proportions. This has therefore necessitated the need to organise this stakeholders forum to create awareness and test the level of preparedness in order to arrive at a reasonable mitigation measures towards reducing the impacts.”
Speaking to our correspondent on Friday, the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, stated that the police had mapped out areas it considers as ‘hotspots’ ahead of the elections.
“We do not have information on what NEMA has identified as states prone to violence ahead of these elections but we have identified on our own states that are hot spots. The police will deploy more policemen to these states,” Ojukwu said.
When the police spokesman was asked about the number of policemen to the identified hot spots and the names of those states, the police spokesman refused to divulge the information.
He said, “Anywhere the Independent National Electoral Commission is present during these elections, our men will be there to provide adequate security. The number of policemen to be deployed to states would be determined by security situations there. But it will not be appropriate to release this information to you.”
In April 2011, violence broke out in the North following the presidential election leaving more than 800 people dead, according to Human Rights Watch.
In the aftermath of the post-election violence, the HRW noted in its report, “The victims were killed in three days of rioting in 12 northern states. Nigeria’s state and federal authorities should promptly investigate and prosecute those who orchestrated and carried out these crimes and address the root causes of recurring inter-communal violence.”
