The Nigeria Police Force assured residents of the Federal Capital Territory on Saturday of appropriate security and peaceful conduct of the elections, citing a “massive deployment” of officers across polling units.

Abayomi Shogunle, the Commissioner of Police in charge of Election Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the Force Headquarters, told reporters during an observation patrol with the FCT Commissioner of Police that the security architecture in place was already generating results.

“Alongside the Commissioner of Police in FCT, we’re doing observation patrol to actually have an effect, to see what is actually happening and to also see if what is happening is based on what we expect, based on the plans we have on ground,” he said.

Shogunle acknowledged that the environment in polling units had been calm and orderly since the start of accreditation and voting.

“So far, so good. What is happening since the commencement of accreditation and voting is that everything has been going on as expected,” he stated.

Shogunle stated that the high presence of security personnel was consistent with the operational order approved by the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun.

“You have seen massive deployments of police officers and other security agencies, and this is intentional. This is the operational order as approved by the Inspector General of Police… that we have massive deployments,” he said.

According to him, the deployment serves two purposes: to secure a smooth finish to the exercise and to prevent prospective disruptors.

“And this massive deployment is to serve two reasons: to make sure that the whole exercise concludes without any hindrance, and also to serve as deterrence to would-be people that might want to disrupt the election,” he explained.

Addressing freedom of movement, the police chief stated that there were no restrictions on voters walking to their polling places, but he confirmed the execution of vehicular movement restrictions in particular regions.

“There’s no problem with freedom of movement. People are moving around as expected,” he said.

He pointed out that only security agencies, media workers, electoral observers, individuals doing critical duties, and those responding to medical emergencies were permitted to drive automobiles.

“It is expected that anybody who wants to vote will go to their voting areas on foot. It is expected that voting areas are close to where people are resident or where they are working,” he added.

Shogunle asked locals to show out in droves and exercise their civic rights without fear.

“Let everybody come out and cast their votes. There’s no reason for any form of apprehension. What you are seeing here is the same thing happening in all the polling units in FCT,” he said.

In response to complaints about anticipated late-hour interruptions, he promised that appropriate precautions had been taken to tackle any unexpected challenges before the polls closed.

“We have made adequate provision to tackle that should it occur,” he stated.