Desmond Mgboh

The Nigeria Police Force has said that they arrested no fewer than 10 political thugs for various offences during the conduct of the supplementary election in the state yesterday.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Anthony Ogbizi, disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the Bompai Police Headquarters of the state police Command.

He denied the allegation that the police failed to provide adequate security for the election thereby giving room for widespread thuggery during the exercise.

He also dismissed the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that thugs took over the polling units during the conduct of the exercise.

His words: “We made some arrests at the early hours of this morning. I may not be able to give the exact number of the people arrested. I cannot tell you whether they are black or white in terms of identity. But I can tell you that some human beings were arrested and they are detained, being interrogated.

“They were arrested either found with sticks or in groups. We arrested more than 10 of them. They are not party offi- cials because you cannot identify them with PDP or APC membership cards.

“I think to me, the security arrangement was quite in order. We did not witness any ugly incident, except minor and isolated incidences, which were quickly addressed. Voting went on in all the polling units.

“The process of collating the result is on; some have now moved to the collation centres and there have not been any protest.” He pointed out that, “if thugs had occupied any polling unit, certainly INEC would not have been comfortable to bring out their materials to conduct the voting process.”

He added: “Voters that went to vote would not have been able to vote. Again, you know it is a secret ballot, so we do not know which party or candidate the voters are voting for.

“The results have not come yet. Police is never involved in the conduct of the election; we are involved in providing security for the smooth conduct of the election. So, to accuse the police wrongly, I think it is unfair.”