Ibrahim Idris, the
inspector-general of police, says the withdrawal of the security aides attached
to Anambra governor Willie Obiano was to prevent the re-occurrence of past
elections.
Idris
gave the explanation during election stakeholders’ forum organised by the
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday in Awka.
Obiano
had during the forum raised the alarm that he woke up on Tuesday morning to
find that his ADC had been directed by the police high command to vacate him.
He
said the directive had put his life in danger, describing the act as an
unacceptable and unfair treatment to his person and office.
The
governor noted that his standing for re-election did not remove the fact that
he was the chief security officer of the state.
But
the IGP said the withdrawal was based on the previous experience whereby the
military caught an ADC to an unnamed governor escorting a vehicle loaded with
arms on election day.
“We
do not mean anything bad to Anambra governor on this action; his ADC will be
returned to him early Sunday morning after the governorship election on
Saturday Nov.18.
“We
have equally withdrawn all the policemen attached to political appointees,
local government chairmen and others in Anambra till after the election,” he
said.
Idris
also said the police force had deployed 26,000 personnel, 300 vehicles, three
helicopters and 15 gunboats for the poll.
The deployment of policemen and other security
personnel, he said, was not to cause panic, but to give the people the needed
protection.
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