By Dele Ogbodo
With barely 3 days to the Ekiti State Governorship election slated for Saturday, the Police Service Commission (PSC)
on Tuesday said it will be deploying a team of monitors to monitor the conduct of its men on electoral duties during the Saturday poll.
The team will be led by the Commission’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Musa Istifanus and is expected to arrive Ekiti tomorrow, July 11, stressing that its officers who compromised INEC’s electoral rules will be punished.
Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, the Commission’s Head of Media and Public Relations in a statement said the monitoring team will cover the 3 Senatorial zones of the state, emphasised that the exercise is in the discharge of the Commission’s Constitutional mandate to hold the police accountable in carrying out its electoral duties.
He said: “This is in the Commission’s desire to contribute to the sustenance of the nation’s nascent democracy as the actions/inactions of the police can affect the success of the election.
“PSC has therefore released three dedicated telephone lines for the electorate to reach its monitors in the three Senatorial Zones for any complaint on the conduct of police officers during the election. The numbers are 08059702950 for Ekiti North Zone, 08033010905, for Ekiti South Zone and 08088155981 for Ekiti Central zone.”
The Commission, according to Ani, further warns that it will not hesitate to discipline any police officer found wanting in the discharge of his/her electoral duties.
Police Officers on electoral duties in Ekiti are expected to turn out for duty neat and in their prescribed uniform and identification/name tag which must be identifiable to the public, he said.
“Police Officers on electoral duty are also not allowed to have on them un-authorised item of accoutrement/kit like cudgel, horsewhip etc. At no time will police personnel deployed to polling units be allowed to carry firearms.
“Involvement of the police at political gatherings shall also be limited to the maintenance of peace and order and enforcement of extant laws and officers shall at all times exercise maximum restraint while covering political gatherings or deployed at voting/collation centres. The officers must be cautious, polite and firm at all times.” He said.