Edo Guber | Army deploys 1,900 personnel, six drones, six gunboats

Ahead of the Wednesday’s rescheduled governorship election in Edo state, the Commander, 4 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Brigadier-General Benbela Raji, has announced the deployment of 1,900 military personnel, six drones and six gunboats to the state.

Addressing reporters after a combined security meeting with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday in Benin, Raji explained that the two drones will be deployed in each of the three senatorial districts and six gunboats for the riverine areas.

Raji disclosed that no military personnel would be found at either the voting or collation centres but they would cordon off adjoining routes to the polling units to prevent those that may want to cause havoc.

According to Raji, “‎The Nigerian Army is there to play a supportive role to the security agencies. Should there be issues or security challenges beyond the control of the security agencies, the military will, of course, be activated to take care of such situations.‎”

Recall that the nation’s electoral umpire had postponed  the election originally fixed for September 10 till September 28 due to security concerns raised by the Nigerian Police and the Department of State Services, DSS.

Also speaking after the meeting, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris announced the restriction of movement in and out of the state which will ‎commence at 1am on Wednesday.

Speaking through the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of operations, Joshak Habila, Idris explained that the restriction would include a lock down of all highways within the state and inroads.

He added that the police would also conduct “semi-temporary checks” on vehicles and persons plying such roads.

“I want members of the public to know that at 1am on September 28, the highways, the in-ways and the out roads, roads that are leading into Edo and those ones going out, will be locked down.

“There will be semi-temporary checks on vehicles and personalities using the roads,” he said.