Police warn public to stay away from Edo election monitoring

The police have cautioned everyone who has not been assigned a lawful duty to stay away from the Edo governorship election monitoring process.

Frank Mba, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police in charge of electoral security, issued the warning during a news conference in Benin on Thursday.

Mba stated that the persons included those purporting to be journalists, election monitors, vigilantes, and personnel of private security organizations.

He stated that only accredited personnel would be permitted to participate in the election monitoring process.

According to the DIG, anyone found in violation of this direction would be held accountable and, if necessary, arrested.

He told voters in Saturday’s election that there would be unrivalled security during and after the vote, and warned troublemakers to stay away from the exercise.

“We want to ensure the people of Edo State that the election would be devoid of violence and on a level playing field.

“We will hold people accountable who violate the law.

“We are not in charge of conducting the election; our responsibility is to ensure that it is peaceful and free of violence. “We will make arrests where necessary,” Mba stated.

He claimed that the police had mastered top-level cooperation with the Army, Air Force, DSS, Navy, and other sister agencies to ensure a violent free election.

The senior police officer also prohibited the use of sirens, political party emblems, weapons like walking sticks, umbrellas, and any other object that could be easily converted into a weapon.

Mba asked journalists to fact-check information distributed before and after the exercise to minimize the spread of fake news capable of causing a breakdown in law and order.

The police officer in charge of the Edo election supplied the operative number for the poll,  07025000383, but warned the public about fake calls.