Posted on Jan 24, 2020
The Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations in Cross River State, Cletus Nwadiogbu, has said the force would mobilize no fewer than fifteen of its men in each polling unit where the court-ordered rerun elections in Yakurr/Abi Federal Constituency and Abi State Constituency would hold on Saturday, January 25, 2020.
Nwadiogbu said, “With what we have seen on ground and with the perfect synergy existing between the security agencies, I assure you we have a near-perfect security architecture on ground in respect to tomorrow’s election. There is no fear at all. There won’t be less than fifteen policemen in each of the polling units to provide adequate security for the voters and the participants.”
This is just as the Independent National Electoral Commission in Cross River State received sensitive materials for rerun election.
The Branch Controller, Central Bank of Nigeria, Calabar, Chuks Sokari, handed over the materials including ballot papers, Forms EC 8A, EC 8D, EC 8E, among others, to INEC officials.
Speaking during the hand-over at the premises of the CBN on Calabar Road, INEC National Commissioner, Mohammed Lekki said, “I came in from Abuja yesterday (Thursday) to join the new Resident Electoral Commissioner to oversee the elections tomorrow. CBN does this thing so well in terms of safe custody of sensitive materials for tomorrow’s election. They have been doing this for a very long time.
"We have just taken delivery and in the next few minutes, we will be leaving for Abi Local Government where the election is taking place. We are satisfied. We counted and everything is correct. The political parties are here. The agents are here. Everything is correct. We are ready to go.”
Also speaking, the new REC in the state, Johnson Alalibo, said, “I am very much satisfied with what I have seen. The CBN has been able to hand-over the sensitive materials to INEC. And I am here with the national commissioner to receive them. The next thing is to move to the areas of the election. My expectation is that we will have a peaceful, free and fair election. We just finished our meeting with the security agencies and everything is in order.”
Furthermore, the Cross River State chapter Chairman of Inter-Party Advisory Council, Paddy Ally, said, “So far, so good, everything is in order. For about three days we have been here monitoring the materials. We are satisfied.”
The House of Representatives election in Yakurr/Abi will take place in 18 polling units in Ekureku I and II, while the Abi State Constituency will hold in 15 units in five wards, namely Afafanyi/Igbonigoni, Ekureku I, Imabana I and II, and Itigidi.