Army says soldiers will be on standby at tomorrow's poll

dimeji akinloye

June 15, 2018 8:12 PM

The Army spokesman said soldiers will be deployed at strategic points several kilometres away from polling centres.

The

A colonel and spokesperson of the Nigerian Army 6 Division, Port Harcourt, Aminu Iliyasu, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said soldiers will be deployed at strategic points several kilometres away from polling centres.

Iliyasu explained that the army is adopting that position because "we are not directly involved in the election and no soldier is going to be deployed for any election duty."

Police, DSS will be in charge

According to him, it is only the police and the Department of State Security (DSS) that have the constitutional responsibility to provide security in the election.

"However, we are always on alert whenever there is election. We will only be on standby at the periphery in case our services are needed," he said.

Iliyasu said soldiers were banned from going into polling centres and escort polling materials to the centres.

ALSO READ: Wike accuses APC of planning to disrupt LG elections

The Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) will conduct the elections in the 23 local government areas of the state.

dimeji akinloye