17 January 2015
There
will be no official role for uniformed soldiers at polling stations
across the land when next month’s elections get underway,according to
indications from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .
Only unarmed policemen will be allowed
at the 120,000 polling units created for the elections,Saturday Nation
gathered yesterday.
The commission is also said to have
factored into its preparations possible run-off polls even as it is
scheduled to meet with political parties, civil society organizations
and representatives of the people of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in the
North-East on Tuesday on the modalities for voting by one million
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The exclusion of soldiers from electoral duties,sources said yesterday,is to create an enabling environment for voting.
The decision was taken at strategic meetings between INEC and security agencies on how to make the elections free and fair .
Sources said that having tested the use
of unarmed policemen in Ekiti and Osun states, INEC is confident that
the 68.8million voters registered for the elections will be adequately
protected.
“We have had a standard measure which we
adopted in Ekiti and Osun states. We want to use unarmed policemen in
all the polling units,” one source said.
“There will be mobile police units, who
will be on standby to curtail any violence or disruption of the voting
and counting processes.
“Soldiers will just be restricted to
entry and exit points in major towns and cities. They will have nothing
to do with the conduct of the elections.
“You will recall that Nigerians,
especially women, had made representation to Justice Muhammadu Uwais
Electoral Reform Committee for armed policemen and soldiers during
elections but we have decided to adopt international best practices.
“The signing of the peace pact by major parties on Wednesday has boosted our confidence that we may have a hitch-free poll.”
The source said INEC and security
agencies have a standing committee which has been meeting on security
logistics for the election.
Contacted yesterday, the Chief Press
Secretary to INEC chairman, Mr. Kayode Robert Idowu, said: “We are
working round the clock with security agencies to ensure free and fair
polls. I cannot give you further details.”
Investigation confirmed last night that
INEC has factored likely run-off in presidential and governorship
elections into its preparation for the polls.
According to the 1999 Constitution, a
candidate shall be deemed elected as President or a governor having
scored the highest number of votes cast and he or she has not less than
one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in each of at least two
thirds of all the states and FCT or local governments in a state.
The INEC source said: “We have made
provision for either presidential or governorship poll run-off. We
cannot be caught off-guard.”
Meanwhile, INEC management will meet
with political parties, civil society organizations and representatives
of communities displaced in the North-East and other parts of the
country on how to conduct election for about one million Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The House of Representatives had approved voting for IDPs in February.
A second source said: “INEC has designed
modalities for voting by the IDPs, we are going to table these before
stakeholders on Tuesday.
“We want to get their input too. Once everyone is involved, the modalities will be strictly adhered to.
“And if we need to amen our Electoral
Act, we will inform the National Assembly because no one had envisaged
the challenge of IDPs.”
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