Oricha79:
maybe olanishakin is a northerner too...I weak for this people.

IgboTyphoon:



That one is out in the water. Are they doing election in the water ? No. So he is correct. Only northern faces

Oyimeoyimemua:

Look very closely, being tribalistc won't take us anywhere

Olalekank:
You didn't see it well

naptu2:


Yes, northern faces like Admiral Ibok Ete Ibas.

naptu2:
2) Security arrangement

Now, I need to explain the security arrangement that's usually in place on election day.


There used to be armed policemen at the polling stations at all the elections that I witnessed from 1979-2003. In fact, I was involved in bizarre incidents with armed policemen at polling units in November 1991 and in 1993.

Then something quite unusual happened in 2007 that led to a backlash. The Obasanjo administration deployed soldiers on the streets ahead of, during and after the 2007 election. It was so unusual that people asked if we were at war. There were heavy military road blocks at Law School junction on Victoria Island and at Falomo.

This kind of thing had never happened even when we were under military rule. The elections were usually policed by policemen and extra security arrangements were usually only made on the day of the election. I went out on election day in 1987 and 1993, after the curfew was lifted and there were no signs of extra security arrangements. I went out on the day before the election in 2003 and the only sign of extra security measures was when there was a show of force.

But in 2007 there were these military checkpoints before election day and for several days after the election.

People complained that our election was being militarised. Human rights groups and other civil society organisations complained that the presence of heavily armed security agents could scare away voters.

Subsequently it was decided that there should be no armed security agents at polling units.

So, when the president says that ballot box snatchers were risking their lives, he did not mean that policemen at the polling units would start shooting at everybody in sight. There is a buffer.

Now, how can you have an election in Nigeria without armed security officers?

In fact, some people complained that the fact that the security agents are unarmed is deliberate to make it easy for politicians to send thugs to disrupt the process. That's not true.

As you will see in the story below, there are arrangements to take care of any mischief makers.

The arrangement is that there are 3 or 4 levels of security. Security at the polling unit is provided by unarmed conventional policemen. That's the first level.

Then there are heavily armed special units (mobile police, counter-terror police, close protection unit policemen and military men) somewhere in the neighbourhood, either on patrol or at security installations, who can be called upon by the policemen at the polling centre in case there's any problem that is beyond their ability.

Then there are more units providing security at INEC headquarters and other strategic installations that are being used for the elections.