The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has assured Ondo residents and the electorate of maximum security during Saturday’s governorship election.
Philip Ayuba, NSCDC deputy commandant (General Operation Headquarters, Abuja), gave the assurance on Friday in Akure while speaking with journalists on the corps preparation ahead of the election.
Mr Ayuba, who said he was in Ondo on the directive of the NSCDC commandant, Abubakar Audi, noted that adequate security was in place to ensure the election was free, fair and credible.
“As all of us are aware that tomorrow is D-day, we, as security men, are here to make sure that we deliver our services. Our service here is to make sure that the election is free, fair and credible. That means that no one is refusing to exercise his or her freedom.
“We want to assure you that after identifying all the flashpoints in the state, we have made adequate arrangements to make sure that we don’t have any intimidation in this exercise. We have taken care of all the flashpoints due to our population with that of police as a lead agency, and the civil defence has provided 6,225 personnel for this election.
“So, our men are ever ready. As you can see, we make sure we leave no stone unturned. We will make sure that this election achieves the success that should be recorded. The citizens should come out to exercise their franchise without any fear because we are ever ready,” he said.
Mr Ayuba said that civil defence and other security agencies would ensure the entire state was secured and that the corps personnel would also protect critical infrastructure.
“As we are all aware, aside from monitoring the election, we have a duty of protecting critical infrastructure here in the state to make sure that all the utilities here are not tampered with,” Mr Ayuba added.
He, therefore, called on political parties and their supporters to shun any form of intimidation and criminalities during and after the election to benefit democracy in the country.