The Director-General of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Asishana Okauru, has urged security personnel deployed to states for Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections to be professional in their duties.
Okauru, who made the call in a statement on Friday in Abuja, also advised the security officials to discharge their duties during the polls in accordance with the Constitution.
He charged them not to allow themselves to be used by politicians to intimidate voters or perpetrate electoral fraud.
“Heads of security agencies should re-orientate their personnel to shun partisanship and discharge their responsibilities on the Election Day in line with global best practices,” he said.
Okauru also admonished politicians to abide by the rules and refrain from actions capable of undermining the electoral process or plunging the country into crisis.
He, however, urged eventual winners of the elections to be magnanimous in victory, while losers should take a cue from President Goodluck Jonathan and exhibit the spirit of sportsmanship.
The director-general also called on the electorate to come out en masse to vote for candidates of their choice.
He observed that the governorship election was particularly important to the people, because states were closer to them in terms of governance.
Okauru said: “The decisions we make on this Election Day will affect how much progress and development our states experience in the next four years and beyond.
“We urge all voters to be law-abiding, cast their votes and ensure that their votes count.”
He also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure that anyone caught sabotaging or violating the electoral process, no matter how highly placed, was investigated and prosecuted.
“We expect that heads of security agencies will investigate complaints across the country, that during the presidential and National Assembly elections, some personnel colluded with unscrupulous politicians to engage in malpractices,” he said.
Okauru expressed optimism that Saturday’s elections would be better, with INEC correcting lapses observed in the March 28 presidential and National Assembly exercise.
He, however, added that INEC should ensure that the logistics of distributing sensitive election materials were perfected, while steps should be taken to ensure that card readers worked smoothly.
He also charged the commission and security operatives to take measures to forestall ballot box snatching and other forms of electoral fraud during the elections.
Okauru acknowledged that though there were some complaints over the March 28 elections, local and international observers rated the exercise as largely free and fair.
He said the report was a huge progress for the country and its electoral system, but noted that the system needed to be improved upon.