The ex-governorship aspirant of the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) and now, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Chief Ndukwe Ikoh, has berated the security agencies in the country over their roles in the just-concluded 2019 general elections.
According to Ikoh, “In terms of security, I will score this election worst because there were cases of over security, if I may borrow the phrase. You have a situation where people were using soldiers, police and all forms of security outfits, while in some other areas, it was almost zero security.
“The alarming thing is that those other areas, particularly the hinterlands, constitute the vast majority of the people that should be protected. You saw a whole local government area with less than 20 policemen and when they distribute themselves, you see a whole ward up to 23 to 24 polling units having only one policeman in more than four communities.
“So when you have such security arrangement, the process is then left in the hands of who the strongest among the politicians is; he will capture the whole process and run away with the results”.
The APC chieftain, who spoke with DAILY POST on Sunday, rated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, high in the conduct of 2019 presidential election, saying, it was better than previous elections he has witnessed since 1979.
“But, INEC came with a shocker in the presidential election and they made sure that all the results got validation through the card reader. By doing that, it gave credibility to the process. INEC did well in that context.
“This election was one election that INEC surprised a lot of us politicians, because, people thought it will be business as usual, whereby you go to your house and manipulate to your advantage.”
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