Ahead of Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections slated for Saturday, 18th March 2023, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Anambra State Command, has held a strategic meeting of all the Management team, Area Commanders and Divisional Officers.
The meeting was to review the conduct of the Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state while planning for a more secured, hitch- free and successful poll on Saturday.
Addressing the participants, Commandant Isidore Chikere, the State Commandant of NSCDC, Anambra State Command, said the meeting was convened to appraise the security arrangements for the first phase of the General elections.
He charged the officers to implement the action plan already framed for the second phase in providing security for the polling booths, INEC personnel, Ad-hoc Staff, INEC sensitive/ non- sensitive materials, and the electorates.
Comdt. Chikere stressed on the need for field officers to maintain close co-ordination with all the relevant stakeholders in election security to deal with any emergency in their respective jurisdictions.
“I want to urge you to keep close surveillance over Critical National Assets and Infrastructure at your different area of responsibilities.
“Intelligence shared will ensure timely action to deal with any situation that may arise,” the Chikere told the NSCDC personnel.
Mr. Isidore applauded the professional conduct of personnel deployed in the first phase of the election and charged them to work with coordinated effort to strengthen their function in containing law and order during Saturday’s election.
The State NSCDC Command boss tasked them to monitor the deployment of staff under them as the command will not fail to sanction any unprofessional behaviour.
In his words, “We don’t align to any political party or individual and if anything, ours is to ensure the provision of a conducive environment to ensure the provision of free, fair and credible elections.
“Therefore, all hands should be on deck to ensure a violent free poll on Saturday. We have perfected our deployment covering all the polling units in the state to ensure that no stone is left unturned security wise.”
The meeting ended with threadbare discussions on manpower deployment, monitoring and establishment of helpline for complaint redressal and evaluation of security grid put in place.
