By Nigeria’s Police high command is mobilizing an estimated 15,000 personnel to secure Osun State’s governorship election, scheduled for August 15, as authorities move to tighten security ahead of a vote already shadowed by reports of rising political tension.
Police Commissioner Confirms Scale of Deployment
The Commissioner of Police heading security operations for the poll, Samuel Etaifo, disclosed the deployment figures in Osogbo on Wednesday, briefing journalists shortly after a strategy meeting with officers already stationed in the state.
According to Etaifo, the force being assembled will be broad-based, drawing not only on regular policemen but also specialist units, the canine (dog) section, medical personnel, and operatives of the Police Mobile Force, the elite tactical arm often deployed for high-risk assignments and crowd control during elections.
Command of the operation will sit with a Deputy Inspector General of Police and an Assistant Inspector General of Police, both of whom are being sent into the state to oversee the exercise alongside Etaifo, who confirmed he was personally posted to lead the CP-level command on the orders of the Inspector General of Police.
Notably, Etaifo revealed that his own deployment was brought forward. Election security commanders are typically dispatched to a state four to five days ahead of a poll, but he said he was sent in earlier and, in his words, was the more junior-ranking officer for the assignment due to the heightened tension already building in Osun.
Early Deployment Follows Reports of Violence
Etaifo further disclosed that some police personnel had been sent to Osun even before Wednesday’s briefing, in direct response to an escalation in violent incidents recorded in the state in the run-up to the election.
He used the occasion to caution officers under his command, insisting that all personnel on election duty must operate strictly within the law and maintain high ethical standards throughout the exercise. He warned that anyone found obstructing the conduct of a free and fair election, irrespective of rank or position, would face the full consequences of such conduct.
Arrested Suspects to Be Taken to Abuja
In a notable operational directive, the Commissioner said that anyone arrested in connection with electoral offences during the poll will not be processed or detained locally in Osun. Instead, all suspects will be transferred to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, for handling, a move he justified by describing the Osun election as a federal government exercise rather than a purely state affair.
Fourteen Candidates in the Race
The security build-up comes as Osun prepares to head to the polls on August 15 to elect a governor. Fourteen candidates are in contention, including incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke, who is seeking re-election.
The scale of the security operation is one of the largest assembled for a single state governorship election in recent memory, which reveals the level of concern among federal security authorities over the potential for unrest, amid a broader political climate in the state that has also seen friction between the Osun government and federal anti-graft authorities in recent weeks.
