The Nigerian Police Force has vowed to deal with vote buyers and political hoodlums who might attempt to cause violence during the Saturday governorship election in Edo State.
Ahead of the election, the police through the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Frank Mba urged eligible voters not to loiter around after casting their ballots.
Mba reiterated the readiness of the police to carry out its duty in line with the laws guiding the election of the country.
“Tomorrow it is important for parents and for everybody to know that if you are not accredited to carry out any of the functions related to the election, you should not be out on the street. Just come, go out there, perform your civic duties, cast your vote and return to your home,” DIG Mba said.
“I will say all is set, we have done our deployments, and we have taken care of all our concerns. We have made provisions for tomorrow, we have taken care of INEC headquarters, the RAC centres and anticipated operations for tomorrow, and so we are good to go.
“Vote buying is one of the most difficult offences to actually police and manage and I am saying this with every sense of honesty.
“The reason is simple, the bulk of vote buying and selling that takes place don’t take place in the glare of the public, in the glare of the media, in the glare of the law enforcement agents. Sometimes, they take place in the bedrooms of citizens and we don’t have the capacity to police every bedroom, every kitchen, every toilet and every balcony,” DIG Mba said.
He added, “But our pledge is that the ones that happen in the glare of the public, the ones our security network are able to detect and intercept, we will deal with them.”
