THE Resident Electoral Commissioner of Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Kogi state, Proffessor James Apam has called on security agencies to increase the number of personnel that would be posted out to monitor the November 16 governorship election in the state.
Apam made the call on Wednesday while declaring open a three day training programme for the security personnel for the forthcoming governorship election in the state.
He said that the duty of security personnel on the election day was not limited to providing security for the electorates and election materials, they also have a duty to protect INEC staff on the day.
According to him, there are cases where some Ad-hoc staff particularly some corp members were attacked when some even lost their lives.
“As a result, there is need to increase the number of personnel to prevent reoccurrence of such ugly incidents.” He noted.
Also speaking at the seminar, Chairman, Independent Electoral Commissioner, Professor Mahmood Yakubu said that the commission considered security as a critical and key component of the electoral process and one of the indices for ensuring the credibility of elections.
Professor Mahmood Yakubu who was represented by the National Commissioner in charge of Kogi,Professor Mohammed Haruna said that there have been improvement in the electoral policies particularly in the area of electoral security.
He said that the essence of the numerous collaboration with different interagency was to be proactive in identifying electoral risk factors and be able to mitigate them.
” Many of the reforms and innovations in the electoral process of the commission have been radically different from what many of us used to know ”
Professor Yakubu called on all stakeholders particularly the security personnel that will protect the process to get themselves familiar with the measures and be aware about the developments.
