Edo 2020: Soldiers, police, others in show of force

Scores of soldiers and other security officials on Thursday embarked on a massive show of force on the streets of Benin City ahead of Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State.

The combined exercise tagged ‘Inter Agencies Show of Force’ is to alert Edo residents of the security agencies’ preparedness for the governorship election.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that no fewer than 70 patrol vehicles, including two armored personnel carriers, loaded with fully armed personnel from various security agencies, paraded strategic streets and roads across the city.

Their patrol caused traffic congestion along the busy Benin-Sapele Road and other major roads along with the Government Reservation Area for several hours.

A similar patrol was carried out by the combined force on Saturday and Sunday.

Chidi Nwabuzor, the state police public relations officer, who spoke to journalists during the exercise, restated the inter agencies’ commitment to ensuring that the election was violence-free, fair, free, and credible

He urged voters to come out en masse on Saturday and vote as their lives and property would be protected.

Some of the security agencies that participated in the exercise include the Nigerian Army, Police Mobile Force, Nigerian Police Force, Nigerian Customs Service, and the Directorate of State Services.

Others were the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Air force, Federal Road Safety Corps, the Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.