‘Arrest govt officials moving with private guards’

Chairman, the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Attahiru Jega, has asked the acting Inspector-General of police, Mr. Solomon Arase, to arrest government officials, candidates and politicians moving with private guards during today’s supplementary elections. Jega said failure of these set of people to fully comply with the laid down rules for the general elections led to the cancellation of the elections in the affected states. He said this was also the reason that made the commission to declare the governorship polls in Imo and Abia states inconclusive. Jega spoke when the police boss visited him at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

Arase said he was at the commission’s headquarters to intimate it of his preparation for today’s reruns. Jega said, “Some of the challenges we face during the recent governorship elections were associated with the refusal of government officials, candidates and politicians to comply with the election rules. “This phenomenon was largely the cause of the problems in particularly Imo and Abia states.” While congratulating Arase on his new appointment, the INEC chairman recalled that the immediate-past IGP, Sulaiman Abba, had worked cordially with the electoral commission that saw the relationship reached its highest level in history. Earlier, Arase said having assumed duty just two days ago, he took measures that would ensure problems-free supplementary polls today. He said fresh approach was being adopted to tackle the security challenges encountered during the recent polls with senior police officers deployed to the states where the polls are taking place. Arase said the police would not allow anybody to create any chaos, as perpetrators of the election violence would face the wrath of the security agencies.