*Ize-Iyamu, Obaseki In Last-Ditch Moves To Win, Consolidate Support…
By Hamilton Nwosa(Head, The New Diplomat’s Polling, Research and data desk)
Security Agencies in Edo including the Police, Department of State Security Services(DSS) and other Law enforcement agencies on Sunday reassured Edo residents and Nigerians who are anxious of the growing apprehension in the State of their commitment to ensure that the Sept. 19 governorship election was peaceful and violence- free.
According to agency report monitored by The New Diplomat, this reassurance which is coming six days to the governorship poll was given during the day two of the inter agencies’ combined exercise, tagged “Inter Agencies Show of Force”.
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SP Chidi Nwabuzor, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Edo Command who spoke to newsmen, said that the decision of security agencies to give this re-assurance became necessary in order to disabuse pubic and residents apprehension about possible violence during the election.
This development is coming amidst last minute campaigns by both the two leading political parties and their candidates-All Progressives Congress(APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to sway the electorate. Both incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki(PDP) and APC’s Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu(APC) have been running last -ditch campaigns across the three Senatorial zones of the state.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu of the APC is considered a pragmatic, down-to-earth political tactician with mammoth and colossal grassroots following across the three Senatorial zones of Edo state which he is expected to leverage upon. Mr Obaseki of the PDP on the other hand is an incumbent governor perceived as having deep-pocket to prosecute his political campaigns without recourse to donor support in the on-going contest.
Expectedly, the contest among the two political combatants have been fierce with their loyalists engaging in hot and rancorous verbal exchanges ahead of the September 19 governorship election.
However, Nwabuzor, the Police Command’s spokesman noted that even though with just about just six days to the Edo state gubernatorial election, with political anxiety in the state escalating, there was no cause for anxiety. He said that informed the Command’s decision to restore voters confidence not only in the electoral process but also in the security of lives and property.
The Police spokesman appealed to residents to be “rest assured that the security agencies were up in their task of protecting and securing their lives, adding that they should come out on Saturday to vote for candidate of their choice.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that security agencies which participated in the inter-agency exercise included the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Customs Service, and the Directorate of State Services.
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Others were the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Air force, Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The NAN also reports that some of the critical areas of Edo state that were monitored during the inter-agency combined exercise include GRA, Ugbor area, Oliha/TV road axis, Ikpoba hill, Benin-Agbor-Asaba road axis. Other areas were Sapele Road, Sokponba Road, Erediawa Road, and Murtala Mohammed way.
According to NAN report, Ikpoba slope/Ramat park, Aduwawa Road, Upper mission extension, New Benin, New Lagos Road, Boundary road, Airport road, Akenzua road, Ekenhua road and the Uselu/Lagos Road were also covered by the inter-agency combined team forces.
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