2023 Nigeria elections: Process has overwhelmed some security personnel – AIT News Manager
A seasoned political reporter in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, has told JoyNews that activities involved in the country’s ongoing general elections have overwhelmed some security personnel.
Sola Jaiyesimi, the Head of News and Current Affairs at the Africa Independent Television (AIT) said per his observations and reports across the country, there is evidence of tiredness amongst deployed security personnel.
Speaking on JoyNews’ special coverage of the 2023 Nigeria elections on Saturday, Sola, who has been reporting on elections since 2003 said the tiredness is due to the lack of adequate security personnel in the country.
According to him, the country’s security force cannot serve the vast population; creating deficits in the work of the police, especially on occasions such as elections.
“From the UN statistics, the encouragement is that there should be a policeman for every one hundred persons.
“So if you do the math, you’ll find out that we are still below, because we have a police service that is slightly under 400,000”, he explained in an interview with Blessed Sogah.
“But those personnel who have been deployed have done a lot. But I’ll tell you with all certainty that in some places some of them are overwhelmed”, he said.
He however acknowledged the efforts of security forces since the elections began.
Nigerians went to the polls on Saturday, February 25 to elect a new president.
So far reports from the green and white nation indicate that the process has been generally smooth, despite isolated reports of violent disturbances in some polling units.
In one of such instances, a voter in Lagos was reportedly stabbed but returned to cast her ballot with plaster on her face.
The resilience by the youngster, according to reports is a reflection of the active youth participation in this year’s polls.
The youthful population of Nigeria are reportedly rooting for Labour Party Candidate, Peter Gregory Obi, who appears to have endeared himself to them.
His two rivals from the ruling All People’s Congress (APC) and the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have also taken their messages to other voters across the 36 states in the country.
Meanwhile, the elections have come to end, with counting having already began in some polling units.
At the close of polls, there were still a lot of people who had lined up to vote.
This according to Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), is due to some logistical challenges which delayed the process.
Source: Ghana News
