Barely one month to the February 16, 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections, the Lagos State Police command has said that it is in possession of intelligence that some persons are planning to come into the state posing as Police and Military Officers having sown Police and Military uniforms in some other locations with the intent to scuttle the elections.
The Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Edgal Imohimi who disclosed this after a joint meeting with the heads of the security agencies in the state and the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) Resident Electoral Commissioner for Lagos State at the command headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday however said that they were still trying to substantiate the claim.
Imohimi however warned that if such a move was being contemplated, whoever was contemplating such should jettison it because the security agencies were resolved and had put in place both overt and covert moves and strategies to ensure that they were arrested and made to face the full weight of the law.
In his words,” Let me used this opportunity to call on Lagosians more than ever before to be very vigilant this period. This meeting also shared intelligence and one piece of intelligence that resonate during the meeting was the fact that we have gotten some feelers which we are still trying to substantiate that some persons are planning to come into the state posing as Police and Military Officers having sown Police and Military uniforms in some other locations.
“Well, let me sound this note of warning, if such a move is being contemplated, whoever is contemplating such should jettison it because we are resolved and we have put in place both overt and covert moves and strategies to ensure that they are arrested and made to face the full weight of the law.
“We are also mindful of the fact that Lagos is a littoral state. We are going to strengthen security in all our riverine communities and we are doing that in partnership with the locals. We are co-opting the local fishermen, local hunters and others into the security vanguard for their respective communities. We also have the Navy onboard with their gunboats to secure the water space. This is also being replicated on land”.
The CP noted that after the initial embarrassment occasioned by some factors in the last flag off of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship campaign rally in the state, the security agencies have learnt some lessons and had taken cognizance of the lapses noticed adding that “every rally is now handled with proper security checks, profiling before anybody gains any form of admittance into any area designated for a rally to prevent a situation where people move around with small arms threatening the electoral process”.
He continued,” And like I have said during the meeting, I have ordered my Area Commanders and DPOs in the state that henceforth, anybody who is found armed with firearms in any political gathering, any public place with intent to use that firearms to either kill, maim or destroy the process, I have ordered my men to use appropriate and proportional force which will include the use of firearms to ensure that such a person is arrested, demobilized and the firearms seized.
“So, everybody should go back and pull the ears of your youngsters, children or wards, tell them not to be used by anybody or any politician for thuggery because the consequences will be very daring”.
He therefore assured Lagosians that the security agencies had covered the basics as well as made proper arrangements for security not only for the entire state but to cover all the areas where actual voting would take place while asking Lagosians to cooperate with the security forces to make the process peaceful and guarantee a free and fair elections.
Also speaking, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Lagos State, Mr. Sam Olumekun appreciated the security agencies in the state for coming up with a detailed profile of all the officers who were going to be involved with security duties during the forthcoming election describing it as proactive and commendable.
He revealed that INEC in the state would commence training of all ad-hoc staff theat the commission was going to use for the election saying, “As you know, training is very crucial and important. So, we will start training them tomorrow, all categories of officials that we will use for the elections are to be trained”.
“In summary, I want to assure Lagosians that we are determined to conduct a very credible election that we all will be proud of and one which will be better than all the elections that we have conducted in the past. That is the message and I assure you that we are doing everything possible within the ambit of the law to make sure that we conduct a seamless election in February and March”, he added.
Highlight of the briefing was the official hand over to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Lagos State, Mr. Sam Olumekun, a complete and total list of deployment by name and phone numbers of Policemen to all the polling stations in Lagos State by the Commissioner of Police Lagos State, CP Edgal Imohimi.
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