Only four days before Nigerians go to the polls to elect who will lead the country for the next four years, the Nigeria Police Force has declared that voters can wait at polling centres to protect their votes after exercising their civic duty on days of elections.
Making the statement on Monday, March 24, 2015, was the Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, in a telephone interview with Punch newspaper correspondents.
According to Mr Ojukwu, voters could stay behind as long as they maintained the peace, and obeyed the electoral guidelines.
He said: “Anybody who commits any offence against the Electoral Act would be dealt with in line with the law. Voters are free to stay behind if they chose to.”
This is coming after the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, had last week Thursday said there was no need for voters to stay back after casting their votes.
The police boss added that two or three policemen would be stationed at every polling unit to guard their votes.
“Cast your votes and go and cool down. If you remain there, there is a likelihood that you will commit an offence,’’ Abba had said.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega, the APC, the PDP and others have faulted the warning, saying there was no aspect of the electoral law that prohibited voters from staying behind to monitor ballot counting.
“As many of the voters may wish to remain to see the actual counting of the votes after voting has ended,” Jega had stated.
Also, the wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience Jonathan had on March 23, 2015, during a rally in Enugu urged people to ensure that they protect their votes.
Mrs Jonathan had said: “After voting on March 28, make sure you follow your votes till the end. Do not leave the arena until the counting ends. Vote wisely, you must vote according to your conscience.”
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