Awka – Anambra State Police Command says it will on Friday commence heavy deployment of its personnel to the streets to reassure the people that the state is secure for the smooth conduct of the November 6 governorship elections.
The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, CP Echeng Echeng disclosed this in a chat with newsmen on Thursday in Awka on the preparations ahead of the upcoming governorship election.
Eight days to the election, threats by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB on election boycott has been rife, resulting in fear among residents.
But the Anambra CP has said the command is poised to prevent any plans to disrupt the Anambra Governorship elections.
According to him, the command has analysed the security threat ahead of the elections and is evolving strategies to surmount them.
“In keeping with the assurances of the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba of our readiness to deliver on our mandate to provide enabling environment for the conduct of the governorship election, on my assumption of office on the 8th of October, 2021, the command conducted a threat assessment/ analysis and intelligence gathering, embarked on strategic deployment of its assets, robust synergy with sister agencies and organized the vigilante and other stakeholders.
“Since then, the Command has been recording successes in confronting security challenges.
“We shall continue to evolve new strategies to tackle security threats as they emerge,” he said.
The Anambra Police boss assured the people that the police personnel being deployed will be civil to law-abiding residents but decisive with criminals, assuring that they are committed to providing the required security for the election to take place.
“Our personnel will be civil to law-abiding residents but hostile to elements who will want to prevent the people from performing their civic responsibility of voting for the candidates of their choice.
“We are putting up a comprehensive watertight arrangement to ensure that no breach of security occurs before, during and after the election.
“Our deployment is functional and purposeful to take care of security issues before, during and after the election.
Echeng noted that the media is a critical stakeholder in the security setup, urging them to assist the Police communicate positively to the people and ensure that their communication patterns weigh in favour of national interest.
