November 11, 2023 NewsOrient

As Imo, Bayelsa and Kogi states held their state elections today, NewsOrient observed presence of large security officials in the states even as the Police alone deployed 92,565 officers and men in the three states.

The Police total deployment of 92,565 personnel, is broken down as follows: 27,000 in Bayelsa, 25,565 in Imo, and 40,000 in Kogi.

Also deployed were five helicopters and 15 gunboats.

The Federal Road Safety Corps, we gathered, deployed 1,500 operatives and 105 vehicles.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it deployed a total of 46,084 regular and ad hoc staff in the three states.

It also said “at least 126 national and international organisations are accredited with 11,000 observers deployed for the elections, while 80 media organisations applied to deploy 1,203 personnel, including journalists and technical/support staff.

Before the commencement of the elections in the morning, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was quoted by Channels Television as saying “the elections will be held in 10,470 polling units across 649 electoral wards in 56 local government areas.

That “all 18 political parties are contesting in Kogi, while Imo and Bayelsa have 17 and 16 candidates, respectively, with the parties deploying 137,934 agents made up of 130,093 polling and 7,841 collation agents.”

As at the time of filing this report, eager Nigerians were still awaiting official results of the elections in the three states.

NewsOrient