Wole Balogun, Ado-Ekiti
Ekiti State Commissioner of Police (CP), Ahmed Bello, has warned politicians against fomenting trouble in the name of politicking in the state.
He issued the warning at a meeting with chairmen of political parties, on Monday, warning them to abide by the rules governing the conduct of election to prevent anarchy in the state.
The Police boss said the command would not fold its arms and allow people to breach the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act in the name of election.
He said the meeting was convened for stakeholders to brainstorm on how to ensure peaceful conduct of the coming governorship election and that the riot act has been read to them to serve as a guided principle.
The Police boss assured that his men would be neutral in the July 14 election and would not do anything that would make them look as if they were working for a certain political party.
“What I want from men is professionalism. We are going to be guided by the instrumentality of the law, because this election is going to be a different ball game”.
On the deployment of more anti-riot policemen to Ekiti since last week, Ahmed said, “You know what is on the ground will determine what will be done. If the satiation on ground dictates we behave otherwise, we will do provided it is within the confines of the law.
“We are going to regulate every inch of activity in the state. We will not sit down and tolerate any act of lawlessness, whoever is involved.
“The police, we are willing, competent to take action against any group or persons, either individual or groups as far this campaign is concerned.”
Chairman of APC in the state, Chief Jide Awe, described the meeting as a fruitful deliberation, saying the police boss spoke frankly and expressed his feelings about the comportments of political parties .
According to Awe, “The police boss spoke frankly and he told us to warn our supporters to respect the 1999 constitution and the Electoral Act and this we have to do in the interest of our dear state.
“We want to rule over living and not dead people, so we need to exercise restraint in the way we conduct ourselves”.
His counterpart in the PDP, Barr. Gboyega Oguntuase, said what the police boss preached at the meeting was civility and decorum from all political parties, which he assured his party would stringently comply with.
In the words of Oguntuase, “As much as we believe in this, he must also not be unaware of something, you can’t rig election and be expecting decorum.
“What our people will resist is corruption and rigging and once the police and other security agencies are ready to be neutral, then there will be peace”.
Other chairmen at the party conceded to the idea that credible election must be conducted in Ekiti to avert crisis