Police have warned political thugs in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory to stay away from polling units in Saturday’s local council election or face the wrath of the law.
The Warning came, as residents of the capital city, Abuja, prepare for the election.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the elections, Folunso Adebanjo, told journalists at a briefing in Abuja that the police had minimised adequate personnel to secure voters and election materials during the exercise.
The FCT police command says it is not taking the elections lightly and would not tolerate any thing that will disrupt the day.
Meanwhile some members of the accredited observer groups are unhappy with the slow pace of getting their materials from the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Also, some members of civil society organisations believe that the political parties did not engaged in much sensitisation to mobilise the electorates for Saturday’s elections
Outside the premises of the FCT INEC office, mixed reactions trailed the conduct of the elections among some of the accredited observers.
Jerry Aweli and Felix Ihonre expressed worries over the slow distribution of materials while some residents are confident that the polls would be peaceful.
INEC is expected to as usual conduct the elections which will produce principal officers into the six area councils of the Federal Capital City (FCT).
The area councils’ elections were last month postponed to April 7 after the INEC in the FCT complained that it was unable to mobilise staff for the exercise.