From Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
Bauchi State Police Command has warned politicians and their supporters against defacing public facilities with campaign posters.
The Commissioner of Police, Umar Sanda, while interacting with leaders of various political parties, warned against removing or defacing opponents’ posters.
He said “You should equally desist from putting political banners/posters of whatever kind on any public building such as government institutions, schools, hospitals, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices and worship centres. Doing so is tantamount to an electoral offence as enshrined in Section 92 (3) of the Electoral Act.
“I would like to bring to your kind attention that the use of quasi-security outfits created by state or local communities under whatever guise is not allowed during the electioneering and other electoral processes, as they have no role in the Electoral Act.”
According to him, all political parties are to submit a notice of their proposed campaigns or rallies to the police command to avoid clashes.
“All applications for campaigns/rallies by political parties should be submitted 48 hours to the scheduled date and the permission would be communicated 24 hours to the event,” he added.
Stakeholder from different political parties pledge to follow the rules of the game and urged Police to be neutral abd to be fair and just to all.
