Kano rerun and security appraisal

Despite the rumours of war and bloodbath in the last weekend governorship re-run in Kano, the exercise was peaceful, according to this report by BASHIR MOHAMMED.

Deploying a deputy inspector-general of police (DIG), three assistants inspectors-general of police (AIGs) and two police commissioners (CPs) to a state like Kano during a re-run election was a no-mean task that was successfully handled by the senior officers entrusted with the battle of maintaining law and order and ensuring a lasting peace.

In the run up to that re-run which saw the emergence of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje as the winner of the gubernatorial polls in Kano, feathers were ruffled with the general public becoming fearful that the exercise was envisioned to be greeted with violence. There were destructive tendencies from both sides of the political divide in the face of the hate speeches from notable figures that call the shots in the political landscape of Kano.

The fear entertained by residents of the ancient Kano city was informed by the venom by such notable figures who had been threatening fire and brimstone, beating their chests that hell would be let loose if the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) either by act of commission or omission fails to announced the true winner.

It was, however, a cliff-hanger for some notable gladiators in the political game to predict who would win the race, considering the myriad of competing interests involved in the re-run. This made many to keep their fingers crossed about the containment strategy to be adopted by security agencies saddled with task of securing Kano during the re-run.

How the security situation was handled

However, the eleventh hour deployment of senior police gave a sigh of relief to the residents of the ancient city that chaos would be averted and law and order maintained. This is with the intention of disallowing miscreants to breach the peace and eventually put a clog in the wheel of the formidable arrangements to ensure a hitch free exercise.

The state police command had been consistent in reading the riot act to miscreants and agents of criminal banditry saying, “Kano has no safe haven for committing dastardly criminal acts during and after the re-run.” Such a dreaded red scare paid off given the level of considerable compliance from those who heeded the warning.

The state commissioner of police Alhaji Mohammed Wakili came on board  with his stick and carrot approach only amenable to those who are determined to  be law-abiding to constituted authorities; at the same time wicked high-handed to those who believe they can flout the laws and go scot free.

On his assumption of  office prior to the  gubernatorial election and the subsequent re-run, he was able to apprehend about 2,800 suspected hoodlums in just 10 days, making the residents to heave a sigh of relief.

To that extent, the massive deployment of security personnel in all the nooks and crannies of the state undoubtedly gingered the confidence of those who had expressed their commitment to go to their respective polling units to cast their votes for a candidate of their choice.

For instance, the  heavy security presence at the headquarters of INEC also injected a glimmer of hope in the minds of INEC officials, journalists, observers and party agents who had spent nights keeping vigil on how the collation of results was conducted without the infiltration of undesirable elements who would love to derail the entire exercise.

With the deployment of DIG Anthony Michael Obize, assisted by three AIGs and two CPs, the security situation was water tight.

The security personnel which comprised the police, DSS, army, immigration officials and men of the Nigerian Prison Service were deployed at various strategic locations to ensure full compliance of the directive for peace to prevail.

In all the polling units where the re-run was held, there was heavy security presence which sent shivers down the spines of those who had threatened to put a cog in the wheel of the smooth running of the election. They knew that in an event of breached peace, the security personnel would descend on them with the ferocity they did not expect.

The security situation, for instance, at Gama Ward, the most contentious voters’ enclave during the re-run seen as the deciding polling ward for the governorship contenders to win, was strongly beefed up as the main entrances to the polling units in the areas were cordoned off by heavily armed security personnel who only gave access to registered voters, observers and journalists to enter and assess the conduct of the exercise.

It was a hard nut to crack for working journalists and other local reporters covering the re-run to have unimpeded access to some of the polling units most especially at the controversial and most contentious Gama Ward. There was a sad episode involving a reporter with one of the national dailies who nearly escaped lynching by the whiskers.

With the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) crying foul upon discerning its imminent defeat following the initial  situation reports  it had received  from  its commanders who alleged violence to its party agents and death in some places, the DIG leading the security team debunked the allegations made by the state chairman of PDP, Alhaji Rabiu Sulieman Bichi with the police chief dismissing the allegations as baseless.

According to the DIG, no single life was lost throughout the period of the re-run while he said security personnel were able to effect the arrest of 10 persons sighted wielding dangerous weapons to scare voters.

The security arrangements in Kano in the re-run, was however viewed by some political observers drafted to the state as a wise step to avert possible loss of lives which usually preceded every election in the country.

An observer’s report

According to Mitchel Kent, a foreign observer from the European Union, the security situation during the just concluded re-run, was something he had never envisioned, considering series of reports foreign observers read in the media that Kano would be dicey and insecure during the polls and that his colleagues who had monitored the exercise expressed their total satisfaction with the way the re-run was conducted.

He said, “At the time we arrived Kano, we were full of fear and trepidation that we are in a Catch-22 situation, given the fear instilled in our minds by reports we read in both the conventional and social media as well. We were made to keep our fingers crossed for fear of the unknown. It was when we realised the fact that the security situation was tight that we eventually heaved a sigh of relief.

“We really panicked because of the nature elections were being conducted in Kano as we were made to understand. In all the places we visited, we never saw lethal arms in the hands of thugs even though we heard it that thugs had concluded plans to attack all of us,” he added.

Thugs were everywhere – Voter

Sounding a discordant opinion about the security situation, a voter in the contentious Gama Ward, Malam Tasiu Dango, however, said the security personnel were only drafted to give cover to political jobbers doing the bidding of politicians who saw the perfection of rigging as the only way out of the fog of defeat.

He said he eventually took the decision to remain indoor, despite having his Permanent Voter Card because his safety could not be guaranteed with hoodlums brandishing weapons with levity. He pointed out that the weapons wielding thugs should not have been allowed to stay close to the polling units in order not to scare bona fide voters who had their PVCs.

However, the overriding opinion among political pundits and notable opinion leaders in the state is that the senior police officers deployed to the state was a spectacular feat worth appreciating especially as there was no incident of bloodbath during the exercise.

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