Bayelsa Gov Polls: Police To Deploy 40, 000 Personnel to Ensure Peace and Security

The Bayelsa State Police Command said that 40,000 officers would be sent to the state to ensure peace and security in the November 11 governorship election.

State Commissioner of Police Mr. Tolani Alausa said that although the police had originally intended to send out 27,000 officers for the next gubernatorial election, they were forced to send out 40,000 because of the recent wave of instability.

As Gistlover reported, the Police Commissioner announced that in addition to the 40,000 personnel, additional security agencies would be collaborating with the police to ensure public safety on November 11 during the state’s elections.

Alausa provided this explanation to a group of female demonstrators under the direction of Professor Faith Aminikpo, Head of the Theater and Film Studies Department at the University of Port Harcourt, in the

Leading the way were well-known members of the community and civil society, as hundreds of women and young people demanded justice for the victims of past election-related violence in the state during a nonviolent demonstration in Yenagoa, the state capital.

Banners and placards bearing various slogans, including “peaceful elections for Bayelsa” and “justice for the victims,” were carried by the participants.

As preparations for the November elections continue, the women demonstrated on Tuesday against the wave of violence during elections in the state.

In response, the Bayelsa police boss said, “As a leading agency in the security architecture, The police are taking cognisance of your theme, ‘Never Again’, because it’s apt for this purpose. All the political class needs is to play by the rules of the game; never again shall we have people murdered because of an election. In the last election, not only civilians were killed, but some police officers were also killed.

“We are going to do everything within our constitutional rights to ensure that we defend the right of every Bayelsan to go out there and cast his/her vote without harassment and molestation.

 “Good enough, we are in an off-cycle election, where we are going to have enough security around the state. Like I said before now, we were going to deploy 27,000 policemen, but it has increased to about 40,000 men, including other sister security personnel, to ensure that people go out and vote.”